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Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. 

E. A. BIRGE, Director. 

BULLETIN NO. t. ECONOMIC SERIES NO. 1. 


ON THE 


FORESTRY CONDITIONS 

OF 


NORTHERN WISCONSIN 


FlLIBERT ROTH, 

Special Agent United States Department of Agriculture. 


MADISON, wis. 
PUBLISHED BY THE STATE 

1898 





% 

Wisconsin Geological an& IRatural ‘(bistort Survey* 


BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS. 


Edward Scofield, 

Governor of the State. 


John Q. Emery, 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 


Charles K. Adams, President. 

President of the University of Wisconsin. 

Edwin E. Bryant, Vice-President. 

President of the Commissioners of Fisheries. 

C. Dwight Marsh, Secretary. 

President of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and 
Letters. 


E. A. Birge, Director and Superintendent. 








/ 


Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. 

m 

E. A. BIRGE, Director. 

BULLETIN NO. 1. ECONOMIC SERIES NO. 1. 


ON THE 


FORESTRY CONDITIONS 


OF 


NORTHERN WISCONSIN 


BY 

FlLIBERT ROTH, 

Special Agent United Stales Department of Agriculture. 


MADISON, wis. 
PUBLISHED BY THE STATE 

1898 























/ 



















APR 13 1904 

D. of D. 













itii'fiturle /rv.v7 /to /n Or? r n wich. 

Wis.Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. 

MAP OF 

NORTHERN WISCONSIN 

accom p allying 

REPORT 01 ,H! FORESTS 



Legen d. 


wF. ROTH, U.S. DepartmentofAgriculture. 



+V 

— — — 

vV 


I 

II 

IM 


V 

11 

— 

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© © 

0 o 

O 0 

V V 

V V 




Pinery on sandy land without merchantab/e 
hardwoods except in small scattered areas 

Pinery with considerable merchan table timber 
Pinery nearly or entirely cut over. 

Pinery largely stocked with jack pine 

Mixed forests of ha rdwoods. pi ne. and. in the 
part east and north of red line, hemlock. 

Mixed forests with less than 3 M ft of hardwood 
and hemlock per acre of stocked area. 

M 7 xed forests with 3 to 5 M ft of hardwood and 
hemlock per acre of stocked area 
Mixed forests with oxer 5 M. ft of hardwood 
and hemlock per acre of stocked area 

M/xed forests with considerable mercha n ta b/e 
pine timber. 

Mixed forests from which pine has largely ^11 
been cut. 

Mixed forests from which hardwoods and 
hemlock have largely been cut or burned 
Mixed forests where pine is predominant ; 
the forests resemb/i ng pinery. 

Mixed forests where pine formerly predomihated. 
but is now cut. giving the appearanee of 
a pme slashing 

Open / ngs"with jack pme woods 

"Open ings" with scrub oak woods. 

Lim it of hemlock area, not carried out in 
the eastern part. To the south and west of 
this line the hemlock is not of commerc/a / 
importa nee and the birch is replaced by oak 

Indian reserve N on. 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 


In 1897 the legislature of Wisconsin passed an act for the ap¬ 
pointment of a State Forestry Commission, charged, among other 
duties, with that of formulating desirable forestry legislation for 
the State. The Commission consists of Hon. G. B. Burrows, 
Madison; Ernst Bruncken, Milwaukee; and H. D. Putnam, Eau 
Claire. This Commission consulted with Dr. B. E. Eernow, 
Chief of the Division of Forestry, United States Department of 
Agriculture, who advised that a careful reconnaissance be made 
of the present condition of the forests of the State. The Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture offered to send an expert to make such ex¬ 
amination, provided the expenses of the trip could be defrayed 
by the State. Since the Forestry Commission had no appropria¬ 
tion for this purpose, application was made to the Geological and 
Natural History Survey for an appropriation of money sufficient 
to defray the expenses of the proposed investigation, and the Sur¬ 
vey gladly acceded to the request. Pursuant to this action the 
Department of Agriculture appointed Mr. Eilibert Roth as spe¬ 
cial agent to make the reconnaissance desired, under the general 
direction of Dr. Femow, Chief of Division of Forestry. Mr. 
Roth spent three months in the field and prepared the accom¬ 
panying report. The report was first submitted to the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture at Washington, by which it has been pub¬ 
lished as a bulletin, and a copy was transmitted to the Director 
of the Geological Survey, with the accompanying letter from 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 

United States Department of Agriculture, 

Office of the Secretary, 
Washington, D. C., February 28, 1898. 

Dr. E. A. Birge, 

Director, State Geological Survey, 

Madison, Wis. 

Dear Sir:—I take pleasure in transmitting to you for such.use 
as you may desire to make of it, a report on the forest conditions 


IV 


INTRODUCTORY NOTE . 


of Wisconsin made by the Division of Forestry, the result of a, 
canvass in which your Survey co-operated financially and other¬ 
wise. 

I take occasion at the same time to express the hope that the 
showing herein made regarding the conditions of one of the most 
important resources of your state, will in this very jubilee year 
of semi-centennial existence of the state, lead to a serious consid¬ 
eration and inauguration of a more conservative policy touching 
your forest resources. 

The interests of agriculture, as well as of many other industries- 
in your state, demand timely attention to this problem. 

Respectfully, 

James Wilson, 

Secretary. 

In giving this report to the public the Geological and Natural 
History Survey echoes the hope of the Secretary of Agriculture * 
that the material here presented will aid in the formulation of' 
rational forestry legislation, and so will help to develop and re¬ 
store the great forest resources of the State of Wisconsin. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Introductory . 1 

Physiography of the area . 2 

Topography . 2 

Soils . 3 

Climate and drainage . 5 

Ownership. 6 

Forest conditions of the past . 10 

Forest conditions of the present . 12 

Ooniferous supplies. 14 

White pine . 14 

Past . 14 

Present . 16 

Future . 19 

Red (Norway) pine . 20 

Jack pine. 21 

Hemlock. 22 

Arbor vitae (cedar) . 23 

Tamarack . 24 

Spruce . 26 

Balsam Fir . 26 

Hard-wood supplies . 27 

Present stand of hard-wood saw timber. 33 

Summary of supplies . 33 

Present accretion or increment . 34 

Communal interests in forest conditions. 36 

Forest, climate, and waterflow. 40 

The outlook for the future. 42 

Forestry or agriculture . 44 

Recovery and prevention of waste . . 45 

Forest fires . 45 

Changes on cut-over lands. 48 

Sandy pinery lands. 48 

Loam and clay lands . 50 

Restocking . 51 




































VI 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


Forest conditions of north Wisconsin, etc.—Continued. 

Forest conditions in the several counties. 

Ashland County . 

Barron County . 

Bayfield County . 

Burnett County . 

Chippewa County .. 

Clark County. 

Douglas County . 

Dunn County . 

Florence County . 

Forest County.. 

Iron County .. 

Jackson County .. 

Langlade County . 

Lincoln County . 

Marathon County. 

Marinette County . 

Oconto County ... 

Oneida County . 

Polk County. 

Portage County . 

Price County . 

Sawyer County . 

Shawano County . 

Taylor County . 

Vilas County . j . 

Washburn County . 

Wood County . 

List of principal forest trees of north Wisconsin. 

Schedule of inquiries. 

Products of lumber and sawmills, 1890 . 

Products of lumber and sawmills, 1895 . 


Page. 

56. 

56 

56 
55 

57 

57 

58 

58 

59 
59 

59 

60 
60 
G1 
61 
61 
62 
62 
G2 
63 

63 

64 
64 

64 

65 

65 

66 
66 
67 
71 
76 
78 


































FOREST CONDITIONS OF NORTHERN 
WISCONSIN. 


The preliminary forest survey of Wisconsin, the principal 
results of which are here presented, was necessarily made in 
the form of a census or canvass, collecting the knowledge of 
the woods, and the experience in actual logging operations of 
several hundred men, and securing a better interpretation of this 
information as well as a proper insight into the forestal condi¬ 
tions, not usually observed by woodsmen, by personal inspection 
of typical localities in every county. 

From this it follows that all estimates of areas and yields 
represent the knowledge of the best informed men, and a fair 
degree of correctness may be claimed for the same for the reason 
that each district, at least every county, is represented by a num¬ 
ber of competent men, the writer being enabled by personal 
inspection to weigh, verify, or harmonize conflicting statements. 
The greatest help came from the practical woodsmen, who, in 
all parts of the territory, kindly assisted both by verbal infor¬ 
mation and by the use of their exhaustive “minutes,” many of 
which fill volumes, and represent an amount of detail infor¬ 
mation such as exists for but few parts of our country. 

In this connection it gives the writer pleasure to express his 
sincerest thanks to all these gentlemen, whose help alone could 
insure reasonable success to so hasty reconnaissance. The 
journey through the State occupied over three months, involved 
one or more trips over nearly every mile of railway passing 
through this section, besides several hundred miles of travel by 
wagon. The county-seat of every county was visited and no 
county received less than two days’ attention. 



2 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


During the first part of the journey the writer was accom¬ 
panied and greatly assisted by Prof. L. S. Cheney, of the State 
University. 

Hearty thanks are due to J. T. Cleveland, Land Commis¬ 
sioner of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, W. H. Killen, 
Industrial Commissioner of the Wisconsin Central Lines, and 
especially to L. Jackson, Industrial Commissioner of the Chi¬ 
cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, whose courteous assist¬ 
ance did so much to facilitate this work. 

Physiography of the Area. 

The territory covered is that part of the State lying north of 
a line from Green Bay to the mouth of the St. Croix river, 
with the counties of Portage, Wood, and Jackson as southern 
projections; it involves 27 counties with a total land area of 
about 18.5 million acres or about 53 per cent, of the entire 
State, and contains almost all of the present supplies of lumber 
sized timber of both pine and hardwoods remaining in Wis¬ 
consin. 

Topography .—Over 90 per cent, of this territory is a broad 
slope, which rises gently from the southeast, south, and south¬ 
west to a flat divide running near to and parallel with the south 
shore of Lake Superior; about 9 per cent, is occupied by the 
more abrupt slope from this divide to the lake. 

In going from east to west, the divides between the several 
large rivers which drain the larger slope, are very gradual, al¬ 
most imperceptible, and in some cases are entirely lost in laby¬ 
rinths of lakes and swamps. Hills over 300 feet high from 
their base are scarce; a few “mounds,” or isolated steep hills 
with extremely narrow bases, rise out of the sandy plains of 
Jackson and Clark counties and a few larger, more massive 
hills occur in the valleys of the Wisconsin, Chippewa, and St. 
Croix rivers and a range of low, broad hills form the crests 
of the Iron and Copper ranges. On the whole, however, the 
hills and hilly tracts do not occupy over 5 per cent, of the total 
area, while about 45 per cent, is level upland, and about 50 per 


SOILS. 


3 


cent, is rolling country, of which a considerable portion is 
steeply rolling, “kettle,” or “pot hole” land. 

i Soils .—The greater part of this area is covered by deep gray¬ 
ish clay and loam soils, bearing everywhere a forest of mixed 
hardwoods, or of hardwoods and conifers. A narrow belt of 
fertile “red clay” lands skirts Lake Superior and is stocked 
with a unique mixture of conifers and hardwoods, remarkable 
in the species which are associated and resembling more the reg¬ 
ular pinery of the sandy lands than the mixed woods of the 
loamy soils. A very variable mixture of loam and sandy loam 
overlies the land about Green Bay, also parts of Chippewa, 
Dunn, Barron, and Polk counties. About Green Bay this land 
bore a very heavy forest of pine with a fair mixture of hard¬ 
woods; in the western counties part of it was openings and part 
bore heavy pine forests. Throughout this area the presence of 
sjnd is indicated by the characteristic white birch. Sandy 
lands, continuous with the sands of Waushara, Adams, and 
Juneau counties, form the southern edge of this district through 
Portage, Wood, Jackson, Clark, Chippewa, and Dunn counties. 
These sandy lands are either oak and jack pine openings, i. e., 
brush prairies scatteringly covered by low brushy oaks and 
dense groves of small jack pine, or else the were regular pinery 
covered by a dense stand of valuable pine, without hardwoods. 

Within the large loam land area there occur three islands of 
sandy soil rather well defined, and in most places sharply 
marked. One of these, the “St. Croix Barrens,” extends in a 
belt 10-20 miles wide from the northwest comer of Polk county 
to the peninsula of Bayfield; the other a Y shaped tract with 
its southern apex near the junction of the Tomahawk and Wis¬ 
consin rivers and occupying the greater part of Oneida and 
Yilas counties, and the third a broad belt like the first, extend¬ 
ing from the Menominee river to about Lake Shawano and oc¬ 
cupying the central part of Marinette and a broad strip through 
Oconto and part of Shawano counties. 

In the aggregate the four several sandy districts occupy over 
one-fourth of the entire area under consideration; they are gen- 


4 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


erally pine lands proper, being covered with dense and almost 
pure forests of pine, both white and red (Norway) and only in 
small part stocked with jack pine. The grayish to reddish-gray 
soil and subsoil of these sandy areas are not generally differen¬ 
tiated. They are usually of great depth, of medium to fine 
grain and over more than two-thirds of the area contain suffi¬ 
cient clayey matter to deserve the name of loamy sand. These 
soils support a luxurious growth of pine, but are unsuited to 
hemlock and hardwoods, which latter are represented only by 
the white birch, poplar, aspen, and some stunted maple. The 
most characteristic plants of the cut-over lands of these sandy 
areas are the jack pine, scarlet oak, and sweet fern, while the 
white birch is common to all loamy sands but does not thrive 
on the poorest soils. 

The districts of sandy loam before mentioned occupy about 
15 per cent, of the total area. They border, for the most part, 
on the sandy lands fringing this territory on the south, and are 
mere modifications of the same. The soil in these districts 
though generally quite fertile is extremely variable, quite 
heavy in places, often very sandy, and is covered in numerous 
small and large patches by layers of black muck which greatly 
increase their fertility. The soil and subsoil of the large body of 
gray loam and gray clay lands are usually more or less well de¬ 
fined and generally there is found a small amount of humus 
cover. In most localities the subsoil, especially of all knolls, 
etc., is mixed with gravel, which occurs either in layers of ir¬ 
regular thickness and distribution or else is mixed promiscu¬ 
ously through the ground. Generally, too, stones or boulders 
of large size (4 inches to 50 inches) occur both on top and in 
the ground, which though quite abundant in places do not on 
the whole, interfere with agriculture, but are even regarded as 
an indication of good land. The mixture of gravel and loam 
or clay is extremely variable and in places sufficient sand and 
fine gravel appears on the surface to make a soil classification 
quite difficult. 

These general outlines will require much modification in a 


CLIMATE AND DRAINAGE. 


5 


detailed description. Strips of sandy land follow up the rivers, 
especially the Wisconsin and its tributaries, small islands of 
loamy soils occur in all three of the large sand districts, while 
patches of heavy clays and lighter gravelly soils occur in all 
portions covered by gray loams. The swamps include all poorly 
drained tracts, either stocked with tamarack, cedar, spruce, 
or hare grass marshes and moss bogs. They occupy nearly 12 
per cent, of the area. They have for the most part a clay bot¬ 
tom, and furnish a good soil, especially suited to hay crops.* 

Grouping the land from the farmers’ standpoint, it would ap¬ 
pear that about 20 per cent, of the area is good farm land, about 
40 per cent, medium, while nearly 40 per cent, is either not at 
all suited to farming or only doubtfully so and should by all 
means be left to forest. In such classification great divergence 
of opinion naturally prevails. Most estimates increase the pro¬ 
portion of good farm land at the expense of the medium land, 
but we have preferred to adhere to the above conservative class¬ 
ification. 

Climate and Drainage .—The climate is cold, the winters 
are long, springs almost wanting, summers short but warm and 
the fall long, cool, and delightful. To illustrate the climate it 
may be said that the black walnut and hickories are wanting, 
the timber oaks, both white and red oaks, are replaced by birch 
in all but the southern and southwestern part of this territory. 
Corn is raised with difficulty except in the south and the drier 
western part, while fruit trees, even apples, do not prosper in 
the greater part of North Wisconsin. The precipitation 
over the State is about 32 inches per year of which 60 per cent, 
falls in summer and autumn. The territory under considera¬ 
tion is well supplied with streams and has a far better drainage 
than is generally supposed. 


*For a fairly accurate account and map of the soils of this state see 
the account by Prof. F. H. King 1 in the Settler’s Handbook of North¬ 
ern Wisconsin, by W. A. Henry, Dean of the College of Agriculture, 
University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1895. 



6 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


In this drainage the several rivers share as follows: 

Per cent. 


Chippewa river (with Red Cedar at 6.2%) . 28.4 

Wisconsin river . 21.0 

St. Croix river . 13.7 

Wolf river . 7.4 

Black river . 6.8 

Menominee river (Wisconsin side). 5.7 

Oconto river . 3.4 

Peshtigo river . 3.2 

Small rivers to Lake Superior. 9.3 

Small rivers direct to Green Bay. 0.9 


Besides furnishing ample drainage, the basins of the Chip¬ 
pewa, Wisconsin, St. Croix, and Black rivers, which drain 70 
per cent, of the entire area, are covered with the most perfect 
network imaginable of small streams especially suited for pur¬ 
poses of driving timber. The rivers emptying into Green Bay 
also “drive” quite well, but have required more improvements, 
while those running into Lake Superior are in great part unfit 
for driving. 

Ownership .—Of the 18.5 million acres of land contained in 
this north half of Wisconsin a little less than 7 per cent, is im¬ 
proved; 24 per cent, is held by actual settlers, the greater part 
of which falls to the counties along the southern and south¬ 
western edge of this district; the United States hold about 5 
per cent. (2 per cent, being Indian Reservations), the State 
holds less than 2 per cent., the railways little over 5 per cent., 
the counties about 1.5 per cent, in tax deeds, and about five 
times this amount conditionally on tax certificates. Of the 63 
per cent, owned by private non-residents, fully 80 per cent, is 
held by lumbermen. This amounts to 50 per cent, of the total 
area under consideration or 25 per cent, of the land of the en¬ 
tire State. 












Table I.— Relations of ownership. 


O WNERSHIP 


7 


i 




H 

PQ 

Q 

4) 

W 

a 

73 

Q 

5ZJ 

◄ 

Railways, 
1,000 acres. 

• • • • • • • « i • • 

£3 *22 *03 • • • Q U“5 0-3 • • Oi • m 30 ^ • * 

03 • CO • • • • ^ Cd 03 • ZD CO COOI • • LTS -hi> • • 

▼"* • ... Cl H * • • r-H • . 

• • • • • • ... , , 

••••• • ••• 

••••• • ••• • ( 

• • • • • * ... «. 

• •••• • ... , , 
. • . • .. 

ao 

C— 

in 

Oi 

• 

• 

• 

# 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

State, 
1,000 acres. 

• 

• 

C^COO^HCOW •C'*OOdOOO^CdC-*OCOOCO^QOCOC v dOirHSO 
coocoooo hqo •^oioiiOT-*oi^i^o6t—cOkOoii^c<io^aio 

CO • CO rtH 1—1 CO C4 rH 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

1 * 

o 

CM 

§8 

293 

U. S. 

Governm’t 
1,000 acres. 

** * * k °**°° 
(NH^©©HCO(M*^»CGOa)MrHiH^ClCO^OCJC0 7:COOCld 

CM C-1-H CO HH rH CM C- CO HhO IT-CO 

861* 

606 

Area in farms. 
Total improved. 
1,000 acres. 

• 

OOOiCMO^CMCOk^CMiHCM^OOSCOaiCCi-lCOCMc-cO^irO • uO CO 
L- CM CO 30 C— CM CM OCMiO OO Oi tH • uO 

tH tH tH tH tH • 

• 

• 

• 

« 

• 

• 

• 

tH 

9,500 

Oi-t-rHiOi-HCO^OOOO^^ CiCMOiQCMr-COCMOC-CMCOCMCMt-^ 
WCCOwOCOOOCMCMt-i-l^ OQ 00 ^ CO Cd OO CM OO CO C- X C- COOO 

CM CM CM CM CO CM CO CM rH CM CO CM i-H 

» 

4,400 

1 

OO 

*H 

Land Surface. 

Chief geog¬ 
rapher cen¬ 
sus, 1890. 

C* T— oo 

^COOiOt—COKCOOOCO ^OOOCOiri-^COi—ISOCMmc—COo CM Oi 

»C t- Ci t- ro X 1C IC-H TH 35 COCO^^t--CMQ-^O^C-COCO^ LC cm 

O iO 00 iO CM t-OO iTd CO 30 CO uO ^ O C- CO CO kl2 C- 00 C- CO lA fcO 

rH rH H H 

18,267 

34,848 

Land office 
report, 1896 
1,000 acres. 

•H 

* — —• 

OOOOiQ^OO^lNHCCCDCOHHiCCdMOlcHOOCOHHinH 
!>?0iO©iCl>HHOCiOC:c-a0O7DOt-05HCU-C0NOHH 
COiAaiiACMC^OOiACOOOtfCCOiAiOOOOC'-iOtOOOOOOC-COiAiAiA 

rH iH 

18,594 

35,275 

Division 

of 

forestry, 
1,000 acres. 

COrHiAt— COOOOOOCM-*H*<OiACMr— OOCO^uCCOlACOt-CMCOOilA 
^©MCCOiCt-HiCHGOO^iCt-QaHClCiCJ^WCOCCOCl^ 
COiAOilACMC— OOiACOCOudOiAuOO JSC-OiAiOOOOOC'-COiAiAiA 

▼H tH 

CM 

00 

rH 

oo 

rH 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Total area 

(Division 
Forestry), 
1,000 acres. 

SiCOt-iHC-COOOCMOiCOai'^OCOCOOiCO'H'iOOit^COOCMt-CMai 
t— rr-c—t—coaO»rciA^O^HCOcoc-—« ocmh‘t-«(M'Mc—-^ coc— loc^-i 
CO lAOilOCMr— OOlACOC— ifl © 1C in o Oi L'- C— COiAOOOOC— COCCtfCiA 

rH iH 

18,956 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Taxable 

wealth 

$1,000,000. 

OiOiOCOOOCOiAOOCOCCCMCMCMCOCOtc-asmCOTHiACOOiHt-t- 

irirH»A*OC^'HJc0^^iHCM(Mr^COlCtACMCMCMCOH-^COTHiHOCM 

▼H 

% 

92.1 

603.4 

Popula¬ 
tion by 
1,000. 

CMiHkAOOt—COOiO OO CMCOC—Ot—iACMCOO»HiACMt—lA^COCMCO 

t— O CM lA OO r-J Oi »A CM Hl^COHH^DO CO IT— CO OQ t— CO Cl 00 CO H* t-H 
t—(CM tH CM CM CM CM HHHCdCMH rH CM CM CM 

434.4 

1,937.9 

• 

I* 

H 

15 

P 

O 

o 

# 

Ashland. 

Barron. 

Bayfield. 

Burnett. 

Chippewa. 

Clark . 

Douglas. 

Dunn. 

Florence . 

Forest. 

Iron. 

Jackson. 

Langlade. 

Lincoln. 

Marathon. 

Marinette. 

Oconto. 

Oneida. 

Polk. 

Portage. 

Price. 

Sawyer. 

Shawano. 

Taylor. 

Vilas. 

Washburn. 

Wood. 

Total. 

Total for entire state. 



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Table II .—Surface features. 




8 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


Q 


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P$ 


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w 4.— W >*✓ ^ w t* CM t* p- 

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> O © ^ © ^ 1 
1 tH O CD ^ 


CO 

tH 

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COCNCOtHiOCMCOCM^CMCMCMCMCMCDCOCOCMO^CMCOCOCOCMpHptpH 

7,400 

40.3 

icooicooicoooQomooinocogojcooicoo 

COCOO^OpHdit'»<!DkDTttOCM*Dr'-OTO^tHtOO ( X> r DCMiCOiDOOCD 

tHtHpH CO CO pH tH hHHHpHCCpHpH tHp-ipHtHCM«M 

4,100 

22.5 

•WOOOOO«OOOQOOQWOOOinOOOO .iCQtD 
.oox?ii^cccot-oio^^iH'CCc"'^(MiooOGOH • m > z > m 
. COCOCMp-ipHpH pH pH CO p-r*iHHiO CM pH * H' CM tH 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 

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5,150 

27.8 

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tH lO • pH ... ^H • m > 00 • * CD tH • CD CD ifU H* p - CD • CO ©■ 

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• • • • • •• • • 

• •#• • •• 9 • 

2,900 

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m 

pH 

m +j 

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^MC 3 H©NM©HC^C^©t'-»OOM©C'* 00 ©©HH'HH©© 
CM CO rH OO ©HHH JO CM CM CO tH CM CO HhCO^^^HCJCM 

8,600 

46.6 


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CM pH 


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Table III.— Standing timber in million feet board measure. 


STANDING TIMBER 


9 


Hard¬ 

wood 

and 

hem¬ 

lock 

cord- 

wood 

million 

cords. 8 

m id ididid id id id 

COTHCOiHM4COCOrHrHCOCMOCOCOkDrHCMOCMrHM4kDCMM4rH©CM 

rH 

65.5 


Million feet of saw timber. 

Maple. 

§S8388S£88fSS8g8gg2giSg8i2g£§S 

H H HnH rH r-i rH t-H rH 

O 

SO 

2,338 

14.5 

Ash. 

S2S2SS99S^ irjCq 9 Ol0 ^ o:0C) ^- CC)OL0O 9 

CQ rH CM rH CO CO CO CO CM tH t—I QC iD tH rH -H CO ID iD M< M4 tH CO 

aD 

CM 

880 

5.5 

Elm. 

S2l229S9S 0lc ‘ c ^^o$QOioo»cooico»cQo 

CO M* M< CM OO SO ID SO *D t— CO aD tH O^tiO CMrH»OAOtHkDrHCOCO 

i—l HH t-H CM rH CO r-i nHHH 

aD 

M4 

2,645 

16.7 

Birch. 

8ol2 

CO rH CM CM rHCOrH 

OOOiDOiDOOOQOOiDOO 

OdJO^CMHHNt^OOHdHCO 

CO COM4 rH CM CO tH CO 

O 

rH 

4,150 

25.6 

Bass¬ 

wood. 

SSSiS^Q^O^C-CiCQCOOQ^OiCQQOOOOiC 
OOO^^OOOWCMDOOHOOiCiCONOCOOOXOTHCOt- 
CO rH COHMHHNH CO CO -H rH rH CO CO rH CO 

8 

4,630 

29.0 

Oak. 

OOOOOOQ©iD©aDOO©iOOOCMOOOOOOaD©aO 

CMaDCMSOCMaDOO CM HHCCC-HH M< tH 

HHHH t-H rH 

O 

tH 

1,387 

8.7 

Total 
for 
hard- 
wo ods. 

900 

50 

450 

200 

1,100 

650 

700 

400 

400 

1,000 

350 

50 

1,100 

1,000 

1,500 

250 

400 

60 

600 

100 

900 

1,000 

700 

1,000 

150 

220 

300 

300 

16,030 

100 

Jack 
pine 
to 4 
inch 
diam¬ 
eter. 

•OQOO -QQiCQiCQOOOOOQOCuflCO -QOO 

• ID © © iD 'OONONONiOHOiCOOiflNOCJ • © iCifl 

• Id H • CO rH tH t-H M4 CO t-H ri t-H • CM CM 

• • • 

• • • 

• • • 

• • • 

* • • 



3,475 


Balsm, 

includ¬ 

ing 

pulp 

wood. 2 

O • AD . o id o 

CM •CM «CM CO 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• ft 

• t 

ldOid 

T-H M rH 

©aDaD©aDO •lfliCiCOOO • AD 

CO CM CM H rH rH * t-H CM CM CO rH * 

• ft 

ft ft 

ft- • 

ft ft 

• ft 



AD 

8 

Spruce, 

includ¬ 

ing 

pulp 

wood. 2 

o * »o 0-0 

l© • tH • CM • aD 

• ft • 

• • ft 

ft • ft 

ft ft ft 

ft ft ft 

ldidiC 

CM CD CO 

ID iD aD © AD © • lO O iC 1C iC O • AD 

CO CM lO rH CM • CM CM tH CO • 

ft • 

ft ft 

ft ft 

ft ft 

ft • 

• ft 



1 575 ! 

Tama¬ 

rack, 

tie 

size 

and 

better. 

O *000^00 

OO • aD CM CO CM aD 

* rH t-H 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

jCQiCOO.CiCQiCQ ■iCiCiCOiCQOO 

M< © tH t— 4 CO CM H O CO O «CO C-CM CO CM © M< CO 

T-H T-H t-H rH rH M rH 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 

ft 



1,650 

Cedar 
down 
to 3 
inch 
diam¬ 
eter.i 

02 

01 

Oi 

OS 

LD »D © 
©idH 
rH t-H 

O O O O ID O •OdiCiCOiC • o 

OCHlCL-CO • rH CM Ml OO rH tH • rH 

rH rH tH • • 

ft ft 

ft ft 

ft • 

• ft 

ft ft 



ID 

Oi 

CM 

rH 

Hem¬ 
lock, 
tie size 
and 
better. 

8 :g :88 : 

tr» 'OO 

• • • 

• • • 

• • • 

• • • 

300 

600 

350 

1,000 

1,000 

1,500 

240 

500 

20 

50 

1,000 

900 

650 

1,500 

120 

40 



1 11,700 

Nor¬ 

way 

pine, 

only 

saw 

timber. 

AD aD © O • • O 

Mi Oid • * O 

id • • ad 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• • 

• ft 

IDO O 

HldlO 

ifJOiCOOQO * 'Old • Q ID CM 

C4 © rH © rH • • © CM • O CM 

CO CM • * CO • CM 

• ft • 

ft ft ft 

ft ft ft 

ft ft ft 

ft ft • 



1 2,317 

i 

White 

pine, 

only 

saw 

timber. 

lOkOOOQOQOinOOQKCOiOQiCQOOQQinQQUOoOO 
lO'H-OLfOOOQCMCOmrOO-HCCOOOQCOCMOOt—OOCMOlO 
ClHidHidWO rHMiCCrHrHCMrHCM O CM CM t— CM CM CO CO 

CM CO t-H tH rH rH 


1 15,038 

Total 

mer¬ 

chant¬ 

able 

pine, 

white 

and 

Nor¬ 

way. 

300 

150 

3,000 

200 

500 

200 

3.500 

20 

150 

500 

400 

100 

150 

250 

200 

1.500 
75 

1,200 

240 

20 

200 

2,000 

300 

200 

1,500 

350 

100 

50 


*D if 

»D rr 

CO g 
tH C 
^ & 
T 

J 

) 

) 

) 

k 

4 

Counties. 

Ashland. 

Barron. 

Bayfield. 

Burnett. 

Chippewa. 

Clark. 

Douglas. 

Dunn. 

Florence . 

Forest. 

Iron. 

Jackson. 

Langlade. 

Lincoln . 

Morathon. 

Marinette. 

Oconto. 

Oneida. 

Polk. 

Portage. 

Price. 

Sawyer. 

Shawano. 

Taylor. 

Vilas. 

Washburn. 

Wood. 

"Ran riairo 

• M * £ 

* .-H • ® 

: o 

S-| 

• r >. •«*- 

« r 
• 

+5 in 

® rtc 

S«8 O l 

,2 2 

© 

IPh h 


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<D 

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CD 

a 

ctf 


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CD 

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CO 

t-4 

CD 

> 

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ft-l 

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cd 

s a 

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• £ 
*5* © 

T-4C« 


II 


© +2 
?h cd 

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rl © 


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10 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE PAST. 

An uninterrupted forest, extending from Michigan through 
Wisconsin into Minnesota, originally covered almost the entire 
surface of these 27 counties. Along the southern and south¬ 
western border, this forest faded into oak and jack pine “open¬ 
ings” and in places gave way to regular prairies. It was gen¬ 
erally a mixed forest of white pine and hardwoods on all loam 
and clay lands; it approached to the regular pinery on the tracts 
of sandy loam and the red clays of Lake Superior, and on all 
sandy and loamy sand districts, it was invariably pinery proper, 
generally a mixture of white and red (Norway) pines. This 
great forest changed in character along a line extending approx¬ 
imately through Range 7 W. from Lake Superior to Town 31 
N., from here to the southwest comer of Marathon county 
and thence east to Green Bay.* To the east and north of this 
line the hemlock joined the hardwoods and pine on all gravelly 
clay and loam lands; the birch (not white birch) disputed prec¬ 
edence among hardwoods, so that we may designate the forest 
as birch forest with admixtures; the red oaks were thinly scat¬ 
tered and the white oaks practically wanting. To the south 
and west of this line, the hemlock generally did not grow at 
all, the birch became scattering, white oaks were abundant, and 
the oaks gave character to the hardwood mixture, making the 
bodies of pure hardwoods distinctly oak forests. These bodies 
of hardwood were much more common on this side of the line. 

Along the edge of the forest to the south and west the dense 
cover of a variety of tall hardwoods and conifers gave way 
rather suddenly to monotonous brushwoods, composed of scat¬ 
tered, bushy oaks, either alone or mixed with jack pine. (Port¬ 
age, Dunn, St. Croix, Polk counties.) 

In almost all parts of the mixed forest of the loam lands, the 
hardwoods formed the body of the forest and the conifers the 


* The lines of distribution as here laid down refer only to the occurrence 
of trees as timber of economic importance, and not to their botanical dis¬ 
tribution . 



PAST CONDITIONS. 


11 


admixture. The hardwoods were represented by trees of all 
sizes, from the seedling or sprout to the mature timber tree. 
They formed nearly all of the undergrowth and this hardwood 
forest showed every indication of thrift and permanence. 
The white pine (red or Norway pine did not grow on these loam 
lands) and hemlock were represented almost entirely by mature, 
old timber, standing isolated among the hardwoods, or at most 
growing in groups or small bodies. Saplings, bushy young trees, 
and seedlings, were comparatively scarce. Active reproduction 
was evidently not going on, and there is every reason to believe 
that both pine and hemlock were losers in a long-fought strug¬ 
gle for possession of the ground, in which a change in the gen¬ 
eral conditions of moisture probably had something to do with 
their defeat. As regards white pine this was most conspicuous 
in the southern counties and on the heaviest soils (Marathon, 
Langlade, and Dunn counties), where in many places the hard¬ 
woods had succeeded in crowding out the pine entirely, but 
wherever sand or gravel discouraged the hardwoods (Wood, 
Barron, Price and Sawyer counties), the pine held more nearly 
its own, and formed a fair proportion of the sapling timber. 

The thinly scattered balsam and the less frequent spruce ap¬ 
pear to be in the same position as the pine and hemlock, but 
they were much less important trees and naturally their sparse¬ 
ness was less conspicuous. 

In the regular pinery of the sandy soils the pines predomi¬ 
nated, the hemlock was entirely wanting and the hardwoods 
were scantily represented by small white birch, aspen, and maple, 
which were mixed with the young pine. In the dense stands 
of mature timber these deciduous trees were killed out but reap¬ 
peared where the superannuated pines were dying off and the 
cover of their shading crowns was broken. (Oneida, Vilas, 
Marinette, and Bayfield counties.) 

On the better loamy sands the pine forest was a mixture of 
white and red (Norway) pine, with occasional patches (perhaps 
temporary) of jack pine (Vilas, Oneida counties) but on the 
poorer sands the red (Norway) and jack pine often stood alone 


12 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


as a pure growth. Either one or both together formed forests 
of considerable extent, usually with hardly any undergrowth 
and mixture save some scattering scrub oak. (Barrens of Bay- 
field county and in Douglas, Marinette, and Portage counties.) 

The greater part of the swamps in North Wisconsin were 
well stocked with dense thickets of tamarack, cedar (arborvitae)^ 
and some scattering spruce. The cedar (arborvitae) prevailed 
in those of the eastern part, especially the swamps of the sandy 
loam lands along and near Green Bay, the tamarack had undis¬ 
puted possession of those of the southern and southwestern part 
and also covered part of the swamps of the openings. The- 
swamps of the central, northern, and northwestern part were 
stocked without regularity, some with tamarack, others with 
cedar, and in many of them both trees occurred together. The 
spruce as a very runty shrub or half tree covered many open 
bogs and otherwise occurred scattered in the swamps, especially 
within the moister hemlock area. 

FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE PRESENT. 

At present these forests are materially changed. More than 
one million acres have been cleared and put in cultivation. Dur¬ 
ing forty years of lumbering nearly the entire territory has been 
logged over. The pine has disappeared from most of the mixed 
forests and the greater portion of pineries proper has been cut. 

There is to-day hardly a township in this large area where no- 
logging has been done. In addition to this, the fires, following 
all logging operations or starting on new clearings of the settler, 
have done much to change these woods. Nearly half this ter¬ 
ritory has been burned over at least once: about 3 million 
acres are without any forest cover whatever, and several million 
acres more are but partly covered by the dead and dying rem¬ 
nants of the former forest. 

In the better hardwood areas (Taylor, Marathon, Langlade 
counties) the least change has occurred; the former existence of 
the pine is scarcely noticed and the forest is damaged by fire 
only where it borders on “pine slashings” or spots where quite a 


PRESENT CONDITIONS. 


13 


body of pine occurred and has been removed. On the lighter, 
gravelly loam and sandy loam soils, where the pine formed a 
heavier admixture, the remaining hemlock and hardwoods are 
badly damaged and often entirely killed over extensive tracts. 
(Parts of Price, Chippewa, Sawyer, Washburn counties.) In 
most of the pinery areas proper, the repeated fires have largely 
cleared the lands of all the heavier debris in slashings. (Oneida, 
Marinette, Washburn counties, near Lake Superior at Ashland 
and Bayfield and in Douglas counties.) Here are large tracts of 
bare wastes, “stump prairies,” where the ground is sparsely cov¬ 
ered with weeds and grass, sweet fern, and a few scattering 
runty bushes of scrub oak, aspen, and white birch. These al¬ 
ternate with thickets of small pine (often jack pine) which in 
spite of repeated fires have escaped destruction or have re-estab¬ 
lished themselves. Hor have these changes beeen restricted to 
the upland forests. The swamps, too, of every county have suf¬ 
fered from fires. Some of the worst forest fires have started in 
the dense tamarack and cedar swamps of the sandy areas, where 
the most complete destruction has taken place. (Oneida, Price, 
Chippewa, Marinette counties.) 

In the accompanying map an attempt is made to show the 
present forest conditions as well as to give some notion of the 
former extent and character of these woods. The areas of pin¬ 
ery proper, distinguished by red color, represent the pine forests 
of almost pure growth, without merchantable hardwoods and 
hemlock, covering the sandy districts of this region. The island 
tracts of mixed forest on heavier soil are not shown and in the 
same way the numerous small tracts of regular pinery scattered 
through the great body of mixed forest, particularly along the 
rivers, were left out for sake of clearness and partly because 
their exact limits were not ascertained. The hardwood mixed 
forest, distinguished by green color in three shades, to indicate 
differences of density or yield, is divided by a red line into two 
parts, the hemlock and birch area on the north and east of this 
line and the oak woods west and south. 

The existence of pine is indicated by red signs, the plus sign 


14 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


(+) being used where it still exists in considerable quantities, 
tbe minus sign (—) where it has been cut out. 

Where pine predominates, the signs of the red circle with 
and without a cross, denoting present and former conditions are 
employed. 

Where the hardwoods are largely cut, culled, or destroyed by 
fire, the minus sign in black is used, while jack pine and jack 
oak are in all cases indicated, the one by red and the other by 
green V sign. 


CONIFEROUS SUPPLIES. 

The conifers, particularly the pines, formed solid, almost pure, 
forests over more than 30 per cent, of the area under considera¬ 
tion besides hundreds of groves of smaller extent scattered 
throughout the entire area of mixed forest. In addition, they 
formed the most conspicuous part of these mixed forests them¬ 
selves so that the name of “pinery” was applied to the entire 
forest once covering this area. The conifers covered especially 
the poorest land, stocked the barrens, the light sands, the 
roughest gravel lands, and clothed the swamps wherever these 
permitted of any tree growth. Besides forming the bulk of the 
forest growth, the chief conifers, white and red (Norway) pine 
and hemlock grew to larger size and better shape than the hard¬ 
woods; they yielded more material and were easier logged, 
transported, and sawed, and their product found a much more 
extensive market. In total amount of saw timber the conifers 
originally excelled the hardwoods about as five to one, but at 
present all the conifers combined furnish only about twice as 
much material as the hardwoods. 

WHITE PINE. 

Past .—The white pine occurred in nearly all parts of this 
area; in most counties it was found in every township, on almost 
every section, and though checked at the “openings,” apparently 
by a lack of moisture, it followed all the streams (the Wisconsin, 
Black, Chippewa, St. Croix, etc.), for a considerable distance be- 


WHITE PINE. 


15 


yond tlie limits of the forest. Generally it seems quite inde¬ 
pendent of the quality of the soil; it grew as fast, as steadily 
and to as large proportions on the sandy and gravelly lands 
along the Flambeau, Chippewa, and Wisconsin as on the heav¬ 
ier soils of the divides and the famous Wolf river basin. 

The yields varied with the size and number of trees per acre. 
It is naturally largest in mature stands of pure growth, such 
as may be seen in parts of Oneida and Yilas counties, where 
as much as 2 million feet are cut from 40 acres and where 
single acres might be selected cutting 100 M. feet B. M. The 
yield is smaller in very old timber, even in the pinery, where 
the stand is broken, and still more so in the old and scattered 
timber of the mixed forest where often but one or,two trees 
were found to the acre. A cut of one million feet per 40 acres, 
or 25 M. feet per acre was and is considered a very good yield 
and generally the cut is less than half this amount. Since in all 
these wild woods the ground is irregularly covered and almost 
every 40-acre tract has its bare places without merchantable 
timber, all figures of yield per unit are somewhat misleading. 
Entire townships (23,000 acres) are known to have cut over 400 
million feet per town while 200 million per town have been ac¬ 
counted for in the output of the several mills for the entire 
area of Wood county, and a cut of about 125 millions per town 
is recorded for the Wolf river above Shawano. For comparison 
with present supplies an attempt is made in the following table 
to estimate the original stand of pine for the several river basins. 
The figures are by no means high, and have been verified at 
least, for portions of every basin as explained further on. 


16 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


Original stand of pine in north Wisconsin. 

(Only the 27 counties visited are involved here.) 


Name of river 
basin. 

Number 
of town¬ 
ship 
stocked. 

Yield per 
town¬ 
ship. 
Million 
ft. 

Yield 
per river 
basin. 
Million 
ft. 

Yield for 
river as 
per cent, 
of total 
per cent. 

Present 

stand. 

Million 

ft. 


Black . 

40 

225 

9,000 

7.0 

250 


St. Croix. 

100 

125 

12,500 

9.7 

3,500 

Considerable jack 







pine barrens. 

Red Cedar. 

40 

200 

8,000 

6.2 

475 


Cuippewa. 

175 

200 

35,000 

27.0 

3,500 


Wisconsin . 

172 

175 

30,100 

23.1 

2,800 

Much hardwood area. 

Wolf. 

60 

125 

7,500 

5.8 

475 

Much hardwood area. 

Oconto. 

28 

125 

3,500 

2.7 

150 

Much hardwood area. 

Peshtigo. 

27 

150 

4,050 

3.1 

500 


Menominee. 

47 

150 

7,050 

5.4 

1,500 

Only Wisconsin side. 

Rivers to Lake 







Superior. 

76 

150 

11,400 

8.8 

4,200 


Rivers to Green 







Bay. 

7 

200 

1,400 

1.1 



Total. 

772 


129,400 

100 

17,400 



Of these 129.4 billion there is approximately: 

Standing at present. 17.4 billion feet. 

Cut between 1873 to 1898_ 66.0 billion feet. 

Probable cut 1840 to 1873 ... 20.0 billion feet. 

Accounted for. 103.4 billion feet. 

Leaving about 26 billion feet as probably wasted; chiefly destroyed by fire. 

Present .—In considering the present supplies of pine, both 
white and red (Norway) pine, of which fully 80 per cent, is 
owned by lumbermen, it must be borne in mind that in spite of 
many years of logging, but few townships of the better stocked 
regions, outside of settlements, have been logged clean, and 
counties like Chippewa, Clark, Marathon, and even Wood, still 
continue to furnish large quantities of pine logs of all sizes. It 
is also interesting to note in this connection, that it is not so 
much a lack of good logs, but the fact that of late everything is 
cut clean, which has reduced the average size of logs to half of 
what it was twenty years ago. But it is especially the fragmen¬ 
tary or culled condition of the forest which makes general or 












































WHITE PINE. 


17 


wholesale estimates difficult, and causes the opinions on pine sup¬ 
plies to vary within such wide limits. “Most men know little 
about what their neighbors have,” and “the man whose pine sup¬ 
ply is nearly at an end, and who finds it difficult to buy more 
stumpage thinks that everybody shares his trouble.” These 
two statements, variously expressed, may be heard in many 
places, are readily verified in every county and fully indicate 
the difficulty. 

The figures in the following table represent the results of a 
diligent and careful inquiry into the present condition of sup¬ 
plies. It is believed that though somewhat higher than those of 
the majority of estimators they are still quite conservative in 
the aggregate and justly apportioned among the several counties: 


STANDING PINE IN NORTH WISCONSIN. 



Million 

County. 

feet B. M. 

Ashland . 


Barron . 


Bayfield . 


Burnett . 


Chippewa . 


Clark . 

. 200 

Douglas . 


Dunn . 

. 25 

Eau Claire* *. 

50 

Elorence . 


Eorest . 

. 500 

Iron . 


Jackson . 

. 100 

Langlade . 

. 150 

Lincoln . 

. 250 


Million 


County. 

feet B. M. 

Marathon. 


Marinette . 

. 1,500 

Oconto-j- . 


Oneida . 

. 1,200 

Polk . 

. 240 

Portage . 


Price . 


SawyerJ . 


Shawano . 


Taylor . 


Vilas . 


Washburn . 


Wood . 


Total . 



The estimates here given are not calculated but simply based 
upon estimates of different men well informed with regard to 
certain parts; they were critically examined by comparing them 

* Canvassed only for its pine. 

*f Probably too low, but left so in deference of good authority. 
x Believed to be 2,500 by good authority. 

F. w.— 2 



































18 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


with those of other men, and also by comparison with results of 
calculations based on probable cut per 40, or per town and the 
area supposed to be still covered with timber. Moreover, the 
probability of the correctness of the various estimates was sub¬ 
jected to scrutiny in various ways and tested by personal inspec¬ 
tion of the field. 

Upon such basis, utilizing partial and imperfect estimates, 
checked and counterchecked, the attempt was made to approach 
as near the truth as was possible by such methods. After the 
writer had made up his own estimates he once more submitted 
the same to his informants and their divergence of opinion, 
wherever essential, will be found noted in the part of this report 
which refers to conditions in each county. 

The white pine appears to seed heavily and quite regularly; 
the trees in all parts of North Wisconsin were laden with cones 
in the fall of 1897. The seedlings thrive best on sandy soils, 
but grow on loamy soils almost as well; the young growth forms 
dense thickets, grows very fast in height (1 to 2 ft. per year) 
as well as in thickness (often one-half inch and more) and the 
sapling timber cleans itself quite well of its dead branches, 
though not as well as red (Norway) pine. In Wisconsin, the 
tree is normally over 50 feet high at the age of 50 years, attains 
a height of over 120 feet and a diameter of over 30 inches, and 
continues its growth in thickness with a most remarkable stead¬ 
iness to a great age, 200 years and more. White pine as a ma¬ 
ture timber has more faults than red (Norway) pine, bears 
more large dead stubs, disfiguring its trunk, is prone to fork, 
three and even four large forks often springing from the same 
stem, and is much more unsound, old timber being frequently 
defective by decay. Both white and Norway pine find a ready 
market in every locality, and are sold as stumpage, logs, and 
lumber. Fully 90 per cent, of the present cut of over 2 billion 
feet (about 3.5 billion in 1893) is logged on a large scale with 
heavy equipment and is sawn in large mills. All cutting is ex¬ 
tremely close; in most camps everything is taken “that will 
make a 2x4,” so that even sapling thickets are no longer spared. 


WHITE PINE. 


19 


and the milling, driving, grading, etc., are done with remarkable 
care and economy. Ordinary mature timber yields about 4 to 
4 1-2 logs per tree, where 5 to 7 logs cut 1 thousand feet B. M. 
The general average diameter of the pine logs is at present only 
about 14 inches and it takes 10 logs to make 1000 feet B. M. 
"Where much red (Norway) pine is cut, the size is even smaller; 
large quantities are logged today where 15 to 20 logs are re¬ 
quired to make 1 M. ft. B. M. 

Future .—The future of pine supplies necessarily depends on 
the amount of growing timber and its chance to grow. Through¬ 
out the hardwood districts there is no young growth of pine of 
any consequence. Some groves of young pine occur on many 
old and burned over slashings on the sandy loam and loamy 
sand districts, where settlement has put a stop to the fires. In 
all pineries proper many thickets of young pine occur which 
have sprung up during the last 25 years, but most of these are 
on land either never logged before or else but lightly culled. 
If protected, these groves could soon furnish a considerable 
quantity of merchantable timber, but under present conditions 
most of them will be crippled or entirely killed by fires or else 
cut into cord wood for shook purposes. By far the best ex¬ 
ample of thrifty young white pine on old burned over slashings 
may be seen at Shawano; other fine groves occur abundantly 
near Grand Bapids, and other places on the Wisconsin river and 
also on the Chippewa and its tributaries. These groves of pine 
have sprung up so gradually that in many cases persons familiar 
with the place are astonished when the young pine are pointed 
out to them. After the first fires the land is covered by fire- 
weed and aspen, then it is usually burned over a few times more, 
until the bulk of the debris is consumed, when the aspen is given 
a chance to form thickets of greater denseness. The common 
notion is that this is the end, that the land is now to continue in 
aspen and that aspen is the alternate in a "natural rotation’' of 
pine and hardwoods. If, however, there are any survivors of 
pine near by—a common case, especially on slashings of former 
years—young pine seedlings will soon make their appearance 


20 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


among the aspen. But these pines require about five years be¬ 
fore they are a foot high and so, even though numbering 500- 
600 per acre, they escape for years the notice of most people. 
Before long, however, the gray of the aspen thicket changes to a 
mixture of gray and green, and in a few more years the aspen 
grove is transformed into a pine thicket with the aspens feebly 
struggling or dying out. There are many of these groves of 
young pine in every county visited; their aggregate area is safely 
estimated at about 200,000 acres, and they are able to furnish 
within 50 years* time, if protected, a yield of more than a billion 
feet of marketable material. But while the ability of white 
pirie to reproduce itself is thus amply demonstrated in every 
county in North Wisconsin, the fact still remains, that the great 
body of cut-over pine lands have not and do not at present re¬ 
cover themselves with young pine, but that more than 80 per 
cent, of the bare, burned, cut-over lands are practically devoid 
of any valuable forest growth whatever. 

RED (NORWAY) PINE. 

The red or Norway pine occurs in every one of the 27 coun¬ 
ties here under consideration, but is abundant only in those 
which contain sandy districts of greater extent. This pine does 
not occur on the loam and clay soils, except on the slopes along 
Lake Superior. It generally grows mixed with white pine on 
the loamy sands (Oneida, Vilas counties, etc.), and, alone or 
mixed with jack pine, occupies the poorer sands, as the barrens 
of Bayfield, Marinette counties, etc. The red pine grows quite 
rapidly when young and up to the age of about 100 years, grow¬ 
ing as fast or faster than white pine on the same poor soils. It 
grows very slowly when old, generally forms a more slender 
stem than white pine, and does not attain the same dimensions, 
especially in its diameter. It seeds heavily and reproduces well; 
it shares in covering pine slashings, forms' dense stands, cleans 
itself well of limbs, makes a straight, clean stem, is more sound 
than white pine, and yields very heavily. Originally it formed 
but a very small part of the entire stand of pine, but today about 


JACK PINE. 


21 


13 per cent, of the remaining supply is red pine. It is treated 
like white pine in all branches of exploitation hut brings a 
smaller price and is more extensively cut into dimension stuff. 
Its frugality, rapid growth, fine dimensions, and heavy yield 
highly recommend this tree in considerations of reforestation. 

JACK PINE. 

Jack pine, in Wisconsin, generally takes possession of all the 
poorer sands, where hardwoods and even white pine no longer 
thrive. Nevertheless, it is also found on sandy loam areas (Sha¬ 
wano and parts of Marinette counties) where better trees have 
grown, and it appears that its presence in these localities is due 
to large fires which many years ago completely consumed the 
former forest and so reduced the fertility of the soil that none 
but this most frugal of conifers could reclothe the land. Jack 
pine forms characteristic dense thickets and even forests of many 
miles in extent, mixes frequently with red pine, less frequently 
with white pine and still less often with hardwoods except the 
scarlet and other scrub oaks and to a less extent the white birch, 
which are its normal companions. 

In Wisconsin it is always a small tree, generally less than 10 
inches in diameter and below 60 feet in height; frequently 
groves of several hundred acres consist apparently of trees of 
nearly one age and size. The tree reproduces well, grows quite 
rapidly, but only while young, and is generally short lived, 
reaching its best growth before the 80th year. At present it is 
not used to any extent, neither stumpage nor logs having real 
commercial value except in parte of the jack pine and oak open¬ 
ings, where it is used as fuel and for farm purposes. The total 
stand of this pine if taken down to 4 inches diameter is about 
3,500 million feet, of which about 1,700 million might well be 
used for dimension stuff while the rest could be employed as 
pulp wood. Its great frugality, ease of propagation, rapid 
growth, and large yields will recommend the jack pine for the 
purpose of restocking all poorer sands. 


22 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


HEMLOCK. 

Hemlock is confined to the gravelly loam and clay lands of 
the more humid half of North Wisconsin and shares some of 
the peculiarities of the white pine growing within these limits. 
It is generally old timber with little indication of active repro¬ 
duction. Over wide areas only large old trees occur, and in 
many localities even these are gradually dying out. Wherever 
the forest is partly cleared, where considerable pine is removed, 
the hardwoods cut out, clearings and roads opened, and also 
where fire has run, the hemlock with its shallow system of roots 
at once shows its great sensitiveness to any interference in the 
moisture of the soil, and all or at least most of the trees succumb. 
In this way a large proportion of the hemlock on the lighter 
gravelly loams of Price, Sawyer, Chippewa, and other counties 
has been killed. Much of the timber on heavier lands in the 
vicinity of pine slashings, etc., has also died and now furnishes 
great quantities of dead and fallen material for future fires, 
which in turn will decrease the supply of the much underesti¬ 
mated material. 

There is apparently no lack of seed, for like pine the hem¬ 
lock in 1897 was full of cones, and yet there is but very little 
reproduction of this tree. For miles no young growth of any 
size is seen, and the small trees, often mistaken for saplings, gen¬ 
erally prove to be runts,—suppressed individuals, often 150 and 
more years old. The only places where this tree still seems to 
hold its own are some of the wet “half-swamps” of the eastern 
part of this area. The young hemlock stands a great deal of 
shading and close crowding, but grows slowly both in height and 
thickness. The tree does not clean itself well of its branches, 
rarely forks, forms a more tapering trunk than the pines and 
does not attain their dimensions. In the southern part of its 
area and on the heavier soils it grows to a height of 85 to 100 
feet, with a diameter of 24 to 30 inches; in the northern counties 
and on the lighter gravels it is usually both shorter and smaller, 
frequently not over 60 feet high and under 20 inches in diameter. 


ARBORVITAE . 


23 


Hemlock is generally quite sound but much of it is claimed to 
be shaky at the butt. In all better localities it cuts about three 
logs per tree, and farther northward about two. Being generally 
mixed with hardwoods in very variable proportions, the yield 
of hemlock varies within wide limits. Mature stands of pure 
growth yield 500 M. feet and over per 40 acres. To cut 200 M. 
feet requires good hemlock land and generally where large areas 
are considered, and the hemlock forms 40 to 60 per cent, of the 
total cut (pine having been removed), yields of 100 to 150 M. 
feet per 40 acres may be expected. The present supply of hem¬ 
lock is generally much underestimated. This is partly due to 
the fact that large quantities have been killed by fire and ex¬ 
posure to wind and sun, and partly to market conditions which 
prevented a proper appreciation of this product. Hemlock was 
ordinarily not estimated at all or only the largest and best trees 
were considered. According to the best informed persons, 
there are standing at present nearly 12,000 million feet of hem¬ 
lock saw timber, an estimate which, in the opinion of the writer, 
is still 25 per cent, below the real truth. The distribution of this 
supply over the several counties is given in the general table, 
and whatever may be said of the total, the figures are believed 
fairly to represent the relative proportions. In places hemlock 
is extensively peeled for its bark; considerable quantities are cut 
into lumber, chiefly dimension stuff, and some of it is used as 
pulp wood. In general, however, it is not yet appreciated, so 
that neither stumpage nor logs can readily be sold and millions 
of feet are wasting in the woods. The ability of the hemlock 
to endure crowding and shading is more than offset by its slow 
growth and its demands on the soil, so that this tree deserves but 
a secondary place in the forest of the future. 

ARBORVITAE (CEDAR). 

Arborvitae or cedar in Wisconsin is practically limited to the 
moister hemlock area, but unlike this latter, continues through 
Douglas county into Minnesota, where it is a common tree 
throughout the humid forest region. Generally the cedar 


24 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN . 


(arborvitse) is limited to the swamps, but as in parts of Minnesota 
and Michigan, it also invades the ordinary forests. In many 
swamps it is wanting, frequently it is sole occupant; more com¬ 
monly, however, it is mixed with tamarack, some spruce and 
often a few scattered hardwoods; it forms dense thickets, repro¬ 
duces well, grows rather slowly, is generally under 18 inches in 
diameter at four feet from the ground, and is less than 60 feet 
in height; the older trees are normally defective at the butt. 
The yield of cedar is extremely variable and difficult to estimate. 
As it is saleable down to 4 and even 3 inches diameter the yield 
is generally great wherever the swamps have not been burned. 
A total of 1,300 million feet B. M., the equivalent of 2,600,000 
cords, may be regarded as a very conservative estimate. Cedar 
(arborvitse) is cut for posts, poles, both telegraph and telephone, 
ties, and shingle timber. Wherever it is near highways, cedar 
finds good market; the logging is generally done on small scale, 
and exact figures for the total cut are therefore not accessible. 

TAMARACK. 

Tamarack, like cedar (arborvitse) grows chiefly in the 
swamps; only in some of the moist and cold localities, especially 
along Lake Superior, does it invade to a small extent the upland 
woods. Unlike the arborvitse the tamarack inhabits the 
swamps quite to the western and southern limits of the district 
under consideration, and even stocks part of the swamps of the 
adjoining oak and jack pine openings or brush prairies. In 
these drier localities it remains small, but within the more humid 
parts it attains commonly to 12 or 16 inches in diameter, reach¬ 
ing a height of 70 to 80 feet with a most remarkably small taper. 
It reproduces well, grows quite fast, forms very dense thickets, 
often entirely covering the swamp with poles of nearly one age 
and size, but also often occupying merely its edges or the center. 
It may be practically alone, i. e., form groves of pure growth, 
but quite often it is mixed more or less with cedar, spruce, and 
some hardwoods. The former condition frequently or nearly 


TAMARACK. 


25 


always obtains in the drier western or southern parts. Being 
saleable only as tie and pile timber, tamarack under 10 inches is 
not merchantable; and many swamps, though densely stocked, 
contain not a cord of marketable material. The older stands 
are generally more open, many of the trees having fallen prey 
to age and weather. These, with the tall marsh grass and the 
large masses of dead and fallen timber form, during dry seasons, 
most favorable starting points for fire. Bor this reason many of 
the swamps, in some counties the majority, contain no green tim¬ 
ber and continue to be for years a serious menace to the sur¬ 
rounding country. The standing merchantable tamarack is es¬ 
timated at about 1,600 millions of feet or 3,200,000 cords, to 
which would have to be added at least an additional 3 million 
cords, if pulp wood down to 4 inches is included. 

In estimating the amounts of swamp timber, both cedar (ar- 
horvitae), tamarack, and spruce, the area of the swamps is esti¬ 
mated in lump for some counties, but more commonly by going 
over the minutes and maps for each township with some well- 
informed person. The area of burned-over and open swamps 
was then deducted, and finally a yield per acre for the wooded 
swamp area settled upon. This latter is generally about 3 thou¬ 
sand feet or 6 cords per! acre, and though apparently low, is not 
far from the truth when compared with estimates of large areas 
which have been examined in this connection. In the propor¬ 
tion of cedar (arborvitae), tamarack, and spruce, locality and 
market conditions are considered. Bor some localities, upland 
cedar and spruce are also estimated. 

Though many of the tamarack and cedar swamps will, in 
time be converted into hay marshes and even fields, both cedar 
and tamarack could well continue to produce large quantities of 
useful material. At present but little tamarack is cut. Some 
is sawn into dimension stuff, little of it is used for piling and 
poles. Strangely enough, the poor sappy poles of red (Norway) 
pine are preferred to it in the market, and tamarack, even for 
ties, has such a poor rating that most of the ties of these sections 
are either shipped in or made of hemlock. 


26 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


SPRUCE. 

Spruce occurs scattered throughout the moister loam land 
districts, especially of the northern and eastern part of this terri¬ 
tory, but is more commonly restricted to the swamp and semi¬ 
swamp areas. On many of the poor moss bogs it forma the only 
tree growth. It is nowhere abundant, form no solid bodies, in 
a mere runty shrub or half tree on the moss bog and even on the 
better soils attains a diameter of only about 12 inches with a 
height of 50 feet Trees over 12 inches are the exception, trees 
18 inches and over are rare. It seems to reproduce fairly well, 
endures shade but seems sensitive to changes in soil moisture, 
thriving only in very moist localities. Being scattered, spruce 
is logged only in a small way, though altogether considerable 
quantities are being cut for pulp and an increase of this cut may 
be expected. 

The total stand of spruce in North Wisconsin may be placed 
at about 1,200,000 cords, including all wood down to 4 inches. 

BALSAM FIR. 

Balsam fir is thinly scattered in most forests of the more hu¬ 
mid loam and clay lands. Like spruce it is often wanting over 
considerable tracts, but few large districts are entirely without 
it. It reproduces well, stands crowding, and endures shade; 
grows fairly well when young and favorably situated, remains 
small, but is never as shortlived as is often supposed. It is gen¬ 
erally less than 12 inches in diameter and below 60 feet in 
height. It never forms large bodies of forest, is little used as yet, 
rarely cut for logs, occasionally for temporary buildings, and of 
late, to some extent, for pulp wood. Being usually left out of 
timber estimates, the amount of standing balsam is not easily 
ascertained. In all forests where balsam fir occurs in commer¬ 
cial quantities the yield per acre was placed at from 2 to 4 M. 
feet B. M. or 4 to 8 cords per 40 acres, an estimate which agrees 
with some estimates made by the Chicago & Northwestern Rail¬ 
way company in Forest and adjoining counties. This figure will 


HARDWOOD SUPPLIES . 


27 


generally prove considerably below the truth, but it seems de¬ 
sirable to have at least some estimate, however crude, of this 
material, especially as it is already beginning to have a market 
value as pulp wood. Including everything from 4 inches up 
there are probably about 800,000 cords. The balsam fir has no 
future, the ground it occupies is largely farm land, its growth 
is too slow, its size too small to commend it to future operations. 

HARDWOOD SUPPLIES. 

Ho sharp limits of distribution or composition of the great 
hardwood forest are, possible, aside from the general outlines of 
the part which bears hemlock and birch as differentiated from 
the oak forest. Basswood, maple, elm, and ash, the principal 
hardwoods aside from oak and birch, all entered into the com¬ 
position of the hardwood forest in nearly all parts of this area, 
though in widely varying proportions. Thus in one locality 
elm forms 30 per cent, and more of the woods, while in another, 
but few miles distant and with soil, drainage, etc., alike, the elm 
is nearly replaced by basswood or birch. Hor is it easy to draw 
lines with reference to size and quality of development. Good 
timber on good soils passes by easy stages into inferior timber 
on poorer soils, and it is but fair to say that some good timber 
grows in every county. In general it is an unquestionable and 
well recognized fact that the hardwood timber becomes smaller 
and scrubbier toward the north; and, when the extremes, as for 
instance the hardwoods of Dunn or of Shawano counties are 
compared with those of Iron and Douglas counties, this truth 
is quite apparent, but the transition is gradual and any apparent 
lines of demarcation are generally explained by differences in 
soil rather thar effects of climate. In the southern portion of 
the area under consideration, the hardwoods attain considerable 
dimensions. Oak, basswood, and elm 90 to 100 feet high and 
over 30 inches thick are nothing unusual. In general, how¬ 
ever, the mature timber is under 30 inches in diameter and under 
75 feet in height, and on large tracts shorter than 60 feet and 
under 20 inches. 


28 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


Generally the hardwoods are “short bodied” as compared to* 
conifers; they furnish per tree about 2 1-2 logs and in the north¬ 
ern counties scant 1 1-2 logs, of which it takes 7 to 10 to the 
thousand feet B. M. Of the different kinds, basswood and elm- 
are tallest and longest in body, the former quite com m only cut¬ 
ting 3 and even 3 1-2 logs per tree, and the latter often furnish¬ 
ing ship timbers 60 to 70 feet in length. Birch is generally the 
shortest, and large trees often furnish but a single log. As 
might be expected, much of the older hardwood) timber is in all 
stages of degeneration and decay, so that much of it is defective 
and the cut consequently wasteful. The oak, being naturally 
thei longest lived and having the most durable wood, is least af¬ 
fected, “it cuts sound;” basswood, birch, and ash are about alike 
and quite defective when old; while of all hardwoods the maple 
is the worst in this respect With this tree especially, the fault 
is not entirely a matter of age but seems largely due to injury 
in consequence of frost; “frost cracks” with their peculiar ram¬ 
part-like thickenings or ridges along their edge being very com¬ 
mon. These cracks admit fungi and insects and thus introduce 
decay. This evil in maple is most strongly complained of in 
the central and northern parts and least in the southeast and 
southwest, where a great deal of fine maple occurs. 

Concerning the yields in hardwoods, opinions differ widely; 
the estimates are generally too low and are commonly deficient. 
The reasons for this are several. Lack of experience both in 
estimating and milling of hardwoods is a chief cause, the men 
being used only to pine but not to hardwoods. To this must be 
added, lack of time, the work usually being too hurried, and 
also the fact that most of the work is done for certain kinds of 
timber only, oak, basswood, elm, etc. Such estimates usually 
include only choice material, the peculiarities of the hardwood 
market reacting even on the matter of estimates. Generally 
the yields are estimated at from 80 to 150 M. feet per 40 acres, 
or 2 to 4 M. feet per acre for fair to good lands, and from 
25 to 50 M. feet per 40 acres for the poorer lands and the 
northern lake districts. Some townships in Wood and Marathon- 


HARDWOOD SUPPLIES. 


29 


'Counties are known to have cut over 100 million feet per town 
or nearly 5 M. per acre for the total area, swamp and all. 
Smaller districts, as some forests in Shawano and Langlade 
counties, cut from 10 to 15 M. feet per acre, but these must be 
regarded as exceptions. 

The standing hardwood, and hemlock was determined by as¬ 
certaining the area of fairly stocked woodland, excluding swamp 
lands, then settling on the yield per acre, or 40, and finally 
estimating their relative proportions. The determination of 
the area is the weakest point in the estimates. The yields for 
all principal localities are based on wholesale estimates and re¬ 
sults of actual operations. Thus the cut per township, or the 
cut for a number of sections, was considered, as also the esti¬ 
mates of lumbering and railway companies, besides the detailed 
experience of several hundred men, and the results weighed by 
comparing the growth in different localities. 

The proportions of hemlock and hardwood and the different 
kinds of hardwoods among themselves, is also ascertained in 
the same manner. There exist for ell principal localities, ex¬ 
tensive detailed estimates; those of the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railway, and also those made for several years by Mr. 
Ben. Hall of Marinette, are models of this kind. Of these, 
a number were examined, and in addition the views of different 
operators compared. To most men the figures of yield will 
probably seem high, and in truth 6 M. feet per acre, or 240 M. 
per 40, does appear like a large amount even for the best 
counties. But it must not be forgotten that here all kinds 
of timber, birch, maple, elm, etc., are considered merchantable, 
and also that all sizes above 12 inches diameter, and for oak 
and hemlock even tie sizes are included. Waste and swamp 
areas are excluded and thus only the acres of well stocked land 
enter into consideration. Those who consider the yield as 
taken too low (and there will be many of these) will bear in mind 
that merchantable saw timber in hardwoods and hemlock, is at 
present quite a different thing from pine, and also that both 
hardwoods and hemlocks are short-bodied, have been injured by 


30 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


fire, and involve in all old stands a heavy per cent, of defective 
material. 


Present stand of hardwood saw timber. 


Kind of wood. 

Million ft. 

B. M. 

Per cent of all 
hardwoods. 

Percentage. 

Oak. 

- . • 1,400 

8.6 

75 per cent red oak. 

Basswood. 

4,600 

29.0 


Birch. 

4,150 

26.0 

Yellow or red birch. 

Elm. 

2,650 

16.5 

30 per cent, rock elm. 

Ash. 

900 

5.6 

Mostly black ash. 

Maple. 

2,300 

14.3 


Total. 

16,000 







The hardwoods are cut in all parts of this territory* they are 
generally logged in a small way and most of the lumber is cut 
in small mills, with a yearly output of 1-2 to 5 million feet. 
According to a masterly canvass conducted by the Northwest¬ 
ern Lumberman of Chicago, the results of which are published 
in its issue of January 22, 1898, the total output of hardwood 
lumber amounts to about 275 million feet B. M. To this must 
be added large quantities of mining timber used in the mines 
of Florence, Iron, and Ashland counties, railway ties, piling 
and construction, and ship timbers; and also considerable quan¬ 
tities of cooperage material and wagon stock, which in the ag¬ 
gregate probably bring up the total cut of hardwoods to about 
500 million feet. 

The most valued and therefore the most culled of the hard¬ 
woods is the oak, particularly white oak, the exploitation of 
which was begun in Wood and Clark counties more than 25 
years ago. Of the ' other hardwoods, the basswood is most ex¬ 
tensively cut and finds the most ready market, followed in this 
respect by elm, particularly the fine rock elm. Birch, though 
the prettiest wood of the region, is much underrated, owing to 
fashions which prejudice the market. Nevertheless, large quan¬ 
tities are cut every year and the same is true of maple, which is 




















HARDWOOD SUPPLIES. 


31 


generally the least estimated of the hardwoods. Owing to its 
irregular distribution, ash is of local importance only, though 
in some places it is claimed that ash logs are as easily procured 
as almost any other. (Oconto county.) 

Among trees of secondary importance aspen (poplar), white 
birch, butternut and beech may be mentioned in order of their 
economic value. The aspen (poplar), both the common aspen 
and large-toothed aspen are found in all parts of the area, but 
are conspicuous as timber trees only in the northern forests, 
especially of Douglas, Bayfield, and Ashland counties. These 
aspens (poplars) take possession of all burned slashings, but 
aside from their value as nurse trees to pine and better woods 
the aspens on the slashings of North Wisconsin have generally 
been of no value so far, and it appears doubtful if they ever 
will be except in a few localities, chiefly in the better sandy 
loam districts. 

The white birch is best developed near Lake Superior, but 
never grows large, generally remaining a mere sapling, com¬ 
monly less than 12 inches in diameter and 50 feet in height. In 
this territory it is almost always a member of mixed woods, 
often' joining the white pine, and rarely forms thickets by itself 
(on some burned areas in Forest county.) It is cut for chair 
stock, etc., but 90 per cent, of all white birch is too small for 
present markets. 

The butternut is sparingly scattered over the better loam 
lands as far north as the Iron Range. It occurs isolated, rarely 
in small groups, and though it grows to good size its distribution 
here seems uncertain and accidental. 

The beech is restricted to the sandy loam lands of the Green 
Bay region, and invades only the edges of the real loam or clay 
lands of northern Oconto and Shawano counties. Wherever 
seen, it appears to thrive, is abundant in all sizes and evidently 
reproduces well. 

Throughout the hardwood forests all stages from the seed¬ 
ling to the old and decaying timber trees are represented. In 
some cases the stand of old, mature timber is quite heavy, and 


32 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


undergrowth and sapling timber are restricted; but more gener¬ 
ally the mature trees are in the minority, and are scattered 
about, standing 10 to 20 per acre, and the greater part of the 
ground is occupied by young trees, small saplings, and bushy 
or withy beginners. The undergrowth is generally composed 
of the young forest trees, and distinct kinds or species perform¬ 
ing this function are few, often wanting. All kinds of hard¬ 
woods reproduce actively as is well illustrated in numerous 
windfalls and abandoned clearings, where dense thickets of 
mixed hardwoods occupy every foot of the ground. Abund¬ 
ance of seed and ability to stand shade enable the maple to pre¬ 
dominate among the young growth even where it holds but 
third rank and less as a timber tree. Conspicuous among the 
young growth, without ever attaining the size of log timber, 
are the blue beech, bush or striped maple, and, somewhat less 
abundant, the hop hornbeam. As a common underbrush 
proper, on both loam and sandy soils, can be mentioned only 
the hazel. The dogwood (cornel) and wild red (pin) cherry 
are much less abundant; the latter becoming really conspicu¬ 
ous only on the burned lands. The willows are quite abundant 
as scattering brushwood in open places, and occur on the dry 
sandy soils as well as on clay lands. Alder replaces the large 
willows along many of the streams and in some swamps. It is 
never more than a bush, but as such forms characteristic alder 
brakes. 

The scrubby hardwoods of the openings consist almost exclu¬ 
sively of oaks. A variety of both white and red oaks (partic¬ 
ularly bur, white, and red oaks) grow here into bushy dwarfs, 
15 to 25 feet high, 4 to 12 inches in diameter and branching 
out almost from' their very base. These scrub oaks occasionally 
form thickets but generally stand too far apart to prevent a 
ground-cover of grass and weeds. 

Since the hardwood forest occupies the better soils, its area 
will necessarily continue to be diminished as the country is set¬ 
tled, and the present supply of timber will be reduced at a rate 
quite independent of hardwood lumbering. Nevertheless, the 


SUPPLY OF TIMBER. 


33 


difficulty of clearing tlie land, tlie comparative safety from fires, 
and tlie abundance of young, well growing stock all combine to 
prolong the supplies. The outlook for the hardwoods is far 
brighter than for the much more valuable pine. 

TOTAL SUPPLY OF TIMBER. 

In the following table the entire supply of timber is arranged 
according to the uses that might be made of the same: 

Classification of wood supplies. 


I. Saw Timber. 

Conifers. 

Million feet 
B. M. 

As per cent, of 

Conifers. 

Total saw 
timber. 

White Pine. 

15,000 

52 

33.3 

Norway pine. 

2,300 

8 

5 

Hemlock. 

11,700 

40 

26 

Totals. 

29,000 

100 

64.3 


Hardwoods. 

I. Saw Timber. 


As per cent, of 


Million feet 




B. M. 

All hard¬ 

Total saw 



woods. 

timber. 

Oak. 

1,400 

8.6 

3.1 

Basswood. 

4,600 

29.0 

10.2 

Birch. 

4,150 

26.0 

9.3 

Elm. 

2,560 

16.5 

5.0 

Ash. 

900 

5.6 

2.0 

Maple. 

2,300 

14.3 

5.1 

Totals. 

16,000 

100 

35.7 


Total of saw timber, 4,500 million feet. 
f. w.—3 

































34 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


Classification of wood supplies —continued. 


II. Poles, Piling, Ties, Posts, Etc. 

Million feet 
B. M. 

Cedar. 

1,300 

Tamarack (over 8 in.). 

1,600 

Jack pine (over 8 in.). 

1,700 

Total. 

4,600 



III. Cord Wood for Pulp, Fuel, Charcoal, Etc. 

1,000 Cords. 

Hemlock. 

5,500 

3,600 

3,000 

1,100 

800 

14,000 

60,000 

Jack pine (under 8 in.). 

Tamarack (under 8 in.). 

Spruce. 

Balsam. 

Totals for conifers. 

All kinds of hardwood. 



IV. Sapling Pine under 8 inches about 5 Million Cords. 

It will be observed that an enormous amount of coniferous 
material exists which under present conditions possesses hardly a 
market value. Most of this material is good both for lumber 
and pulp and it is to be hoped and expected that its loss by fire 
and otherwise will be averted. 

PRESENT ACCRETION OR INCREMENT. 

In North Wisconsin a grove of w r ell grown sapling timber 
60 years old, of pine, may be assumed to cut at least as much 
as 15 cords of bolt size material, or about 6 M. feet B. M. per 
acre. In the old woods as they stand, the trees above sapling 
size represent the great mass of the wood material and therefore 
the growth of wood is largely on trees nearly or quite of log 
size, so that the same amount of growth per acre here adds 

























ACCRETION OR INCREMENT. 


35 


more saw timber than in the young grove above considered. 
For this reason, a good thicket of pine 60 years old may not cut 
much more than 6 M. feet per acre, since much timber is under 
sized, but the same stand at 120 years old would easily cut 15- 
20 M. in spite of the fact that over half the trees that were 
found in the 60 year grove have died before this age is reached. 
From this it would appear that 100 feet B. M. per acre and year 
on sapling timber is probably a safe estimate for the growth 
in this region. About the same conclusion will be reached if 
a grove of old hardwoods is considered. Such a grove, which 
may cut say 6 M. feet per acre,: will be found to consist largely 
of young trees, and among these 20-30 good sized older trees. 
If examined, it will be found that the age of the oldest is not 
over 150 years, so that here about one-third or less of all the 
trees standing on the acre have produced in 150 years the 6 M. 
feet B. M., which we are taking for lumber. The whole acre, 
therefore, may well be assumed to be able to produce this quan¬ 
tity in one-third this time, or in other words the same acre might 
be logged over for 6 M. feet about every 50 years. Such an 
assumption is fully supported also by comparing the cross-sec¬ 
tions of the pine and hardwood. These show that, though the 
rate of growth of hardwoods in Wisconsin is rather slow, yet 
the growth of oaks, basswood, etc., equals and excels that of pine. 

If, then, 100 feet B. M. per acre and year, be assumed as an 
average estimate of growth for this region, the total annual 
growth over the whole may be set at about 900 million feet B. 
M. and is distributed among the different kinds according to 
their ascertained acreage as follows: 


Million feet. 


White and red (Norway) pine.. 250 

Jack pine. 30 

Hemlock. 75 

Tamarack. 30 


Million feet. 


Cedar. 20 

Spruce and balsam. 10 

Hardwoods. 500 


915 


Of this growth the greater part is balanced by decay or nat¬ 
ural waste, which in all wild woods necessarily equals growth 
when large areas and long periods are considered. For white 









36 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


pine, red (Norway) and jack pine, also tamarack and cedar (ar- 
borvitse) in Wisconsin, nearly half the present growth takes 
place in young, immature timber, since this largely prevails. 
With pine in the hardwood forest and still more with hemlock, 
decay proceeds faster than growth; for spruce and balsam an 
increase is doubtful, and with the hardwood forests in general, 
growth and decay seem in a condition of equilibrium. This 
growth is of course reduced by all operations reducing either 
the forest area or the growing timber; by clearing, by logging 
sapling or growing timber, and most of all by fires. 

COMMUNAL INTERESTS IN FOREST CONDITIONS. 

Forest and Wealth. 

The importance of the forest to the State of Wisconsin as a 
factor of wealth is very great. The statement that “the wood 
industries have built every mile of railway and wagon road, 
every church and schoolhouse, and nearly every town, and that 
in addition they have enabled the clearing of half the improved 
land of North Wisconsin,” is by no means extravagant exagger¬ 
ation. Between 1873 and 1898 more than 66 billion feet of 
pine alone were cut, from this forest and even then the lumber 
industry was in a flourishing condition on all the streams and 
had built up La Crosse, Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Grand Bap- 
ids, Wausau, Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Green Bay, and many 
other places. The output of the lumber industry alone for the 
year 1897 is; illustrated in the following table, taken from the 
Northwestern Lumberman , whose excellent canvass has before 
been referred to: 


CUT OF LUMBER. 


37 


Total cut of lumber in Wisconsin for the year 1897 {taken from the 
Northwestern Lumberman, January 22, 1898. 


Million Feet B. M. 


4 < 


Name of district. 

White and 
Norway 
pine 
(alone.) 

Hemlock. 

Hardwood. 

Below Minneapolis,” i. e., on 




Mississippi Riveri. 

284.3 

3.8 

7.1 

St. Croix Valley 2 . 

105.0 



Chippewa Valley. 

274.8 

18.8 


“Omaha” Road (Ch., St. P., M. & 0. R. R.) 

185.2 


> 26.7 

W isconsin V alley. 

398.7 

23.6 

60.6 

Wisconsin Central Road. 

134.1 

24.3 

84.5 

Lake Shore (Ashland Branch). 

126.5 

18.9 

61.1 

Ashland district. 

265 3 

2 6 


“Soo” Line (N. St. P. & S. St. M. R. R.)... 

,50.2 

2.6 

7.1 

East Central Wisconsin. 

36.6 

9.9 

6.9 

Southern Wisconsin. 



10.3 

Miscellaneous. 



2.7 

Duluth District. 

34.0 



Green Bay Shore (a) below Menominee 3 .... 

129.0 

) 




f 11.9 

6.0 

Green Bay Shore (b) on Menominee. 

167.0 

) 


Total. 

2190.7 

116.4 

273.0 


1 Only M of the original item is supposed to be cut on Wisconsin soil. 

2 Only Yz of the original item is supposed to be cut on Wisconsin soil. 

3 Only Vz of the original item in Menominee is supposed to come from Wisconsin, but 
the part “below Menominee” is all credited as cut in Wisconsin. 


The following table, the data for which have been taken from 
the annual statements of the lumber cut, as given by the 
Northwestern Lumberman represents chiefly the output of 
pine. Since in the original statements Wisconsin was not clearly 
separated from Minnesota on the one hand and Michigan on the 
other, it was necessary to modify some of the original figures. 
The a Duluth District” was entirely left out as being supplied 
from Minnesota although West Superior is included in this 
item. This latter item could be segregated and added to the 



































38 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


data given below, only for the cut of 1897. Of the “St. Croix 
River” and “Green Bay shore” only one-half is credited to Wis¬ 
consin; and of the “Mississippi River” only one-third. 

Cut of Lumber, (Chiefly Pine) in Wisconsin During the 25 Years Ending 1897 


Year. 

Lumber cut 
million feet 

B. M. 

Year. 

Lumber cut 
million feet 
B. M. 

1873. 

1,240 

1885. 

2,710 

1874. 

1,200 

1886. 

2,680 

1875. 

1,250 

1887. 

2,890 

1876. 

1,340 

1888. 

3,210 

1877. 

1,000 

1889. 

3,270 

1878. 

980 

1890. 

3,660 

1879. 

1,470 

1891. 

3,010 

1880. 

1,920 

1892. 

4,010 

1881. 

2,190 

1893. 

3,490 

1882. 

2,580 

1894. 

3,100 

1883. 

2,750 

1895. 

2,800 

1884. 

2,950 

1896. 

2,080 


1897. 

2,430 

Total for 25 years. 



60,210 





To this must be added about 10 per cent, for shingles, lath, etc., so that the total saw 
mill output for the period was about 66 billion feet B. M. In this amount insignificant 
quantities of hardwoods and hemlock are included, while in earlier times probably a 
considerable amount even of pine cut is not represented, the earlier figures being less 
accurately ascertained. 

To this enormous amount of marketable material must be 
added large quantities of cedar timber, ties; poles, posts, piling, 
etc., also ties, piling, and construction timber of hardwoods and 
hemlock; ship timbers, the exploitation of which has brought 
special crews from Quebec and other points to these woods; 
large quantities of cooperage and wagon stock; many million 
feet of mining timbers; besides many more millions of feet of 
material for home use, fuel, and charcoal. The value of these 
materials according to the State Census of 1895 exceeded in 
that year the enormous sum of 53 million dollars for “lumber 
and articles of wood” alone. This sum amounted to more than 








































VALUE OF LUMBER. 


39 


one-third the entire value of the products of agriculture. Be¬ 
sides these materials there were large quantities never recorded 
by the census and still larger amounts were used in home con¬ 
sumption as fuel, fencing, construction material, etc., which 
may safely be valued at 10 million dollars. 

In 1890, according to the very incomplete federal census of 
that year, the value of the rough lumber, cooperage, and wagon 
stock, ties, poles, posts, piling, and all products of the wood in¬ 
dustries as they leave the first hand, amounted to 40.4 million 
dollars. If to this is added the value of pulp and tanning ma¬ 
terial, of mining timber, and that of the large home consump¬ 
tion, it brings up the total to fully 50 million dollars for these 
products at first hand and shows them, like the census figures of 
1895 to exceed one-third of the value of all farm products of 
the state. And to these farm products alone are the simple 
forest products comparable, for in most other industries the 
same article often highly finished and costly, appears with little 
or no modification as a product of several branches of the same 
industry. Thus for instance, the same piece of costly wrought 
metal is first credited to the rolling mill, then appears with lit¬ 
tle change as a product of the boiler maker, and reappears with¬ 
out change as part of a distilling outfit, or a steam engine. It 
thus occurs three times as a product of the iron industry, besides 
perhaps swelling the output credited to a shipbuilding estab¬ 
lishment. 

Besides their own value, the products of the woods stimulate 
secondary manufacturing industries, supply planing and pulp 
mills, furniture, cooperage, and wooden-ware establishments, 
wagon and car shops, whose aggregate output in wooden articles 
amounts to over 20 million dollars. 

In 1890 there was invested in the saw milling industry alone, 
according to the census of that year, fully 84.5 million dollars, 
or a sum equal to one-third of the assessed value of all land in 
the state, or about one-sixth of the value of all real estate and 
over one-eighth of the assessed value of the entire wealth of 
Wisconsin. Of the 84 millions over 13 fall to the milling 


40 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN . 


plants and machinery, 11 millions to logging equipments, log¬ 
ging railways, etc., including also logs on hand at the time, and 
over 31 millions to timberland, tributary and belonging to the 
saw-mills. These same establishments paid during that year 
nearly $700,000 taxes, a sum equal to the total state taxes of 
Wisconsin; they paid over $3,000,000 for running expenses 
aside from wages; about 15 million dollars for wages and log¬ 
ging contracts and over $700,000 for the keep of animals alone. 

The lumbering industry gave employment in a regular way 
to over 55,000 men (not women and children), besides purchas¬ 
ing several million dollars worth of logs. Of those persons em¬ 
ployed in these operations a large per cent, are settlers who 
through this industry alone are enabled to support themselves 
until their slowly growing clearings furnish sufficient harvest. 
It is the taxes on timber land (not waste land, however,) and its 
industries which furnish the “road money’ 7 and it is this same 
fund which builds, equips, and largely maintains in the thinly 
settled backwoods of Wisconsin, schools equal if not better than 
those of the country districts of any other state. It is this same 
industry which for years has made farming in the backwoods 
more profitable, and the farmers more prosperous than those of 
some other states with milder climates and equally fertile soil. 
Nor is it the pine alone which has done and is doing so much 
for this country. For owing to an unnecessary and injurious 
competition in the exploitation of the pineries there has result¬ 
ed a concentration of milling and logging operations which in 
many cases deprived the particular counties in which the pine 
supplies were located, of much of the benefit which otherwise 
would have accrued to them from this resource. It is therefore 
to be expected that to counties like Langlade, Shawano, Forest, 
Lincoln, Taylor, and others, the standing hemlock and hardwoods 
promise to be of greater value than was their former stand of 
pine. 

Forest , Climate , and Water flow. 

It is conceded by all that the forest exerts a beneficial influ¬ 
ence in tempering the rigors of a cold continental climate with 


FOREST , CLIMATE , WMXXi? XZOTF. 


41 


its sudden changes and severe storms. What share the forest 
has in the general changes of humidity is not so apparent. It 
seems quite certain that a general and very gradual change from 
a moister to a drier condition has been going on for a long 
time over the entire Lake Region. The behavior of hemlock 
and even of white pine in the matter of distribution is probably 
in part due to this change. How much the forests have done 
to retard the progress of this desiccation can only be inferred. 
On the other hand there are striking changes in the drainage 
conditions which have required but a short time, have taken 
place within the memory of many of the residents, have fairly 
forced themselves on the attention of all experienced and ob¬ 
serving people. These are all too intimately connected with 
the changes in the surface cover to leave in doubt the influence 
of the forest upon drainage. 

The flow of all the larger rivers has changed during the last 
40 years; navigation has been abandoned on the Wisconsin, 
logging and rafting have become more difficult on all rivers, 
and, what is even a far better measure of these important 
changes, the Fox river is failing to furnish the power which it 
formerly supplied in abundance. On all smaller streams simi¬ 
lar observations have been made. The “June freshet/’ which 
in former years could be relied upon in driving operations, has 
ceased on most streams and is uncertain on the rest of them. 
Of the hundreds of miles of corduroy road a goodly per cent, 
has fallen into disuse, the ground on the sides has become dry 
•enough for teams, many swamps of former years are dry, and 
hundreds of others have been converted into hay meadows and 
fields without a foot of ditching. Tamarack stood on parts of 
the present site of Superior, and both cedar, and tamarack were 
mixed through the forests in many places where the mere 
clearing has sufficed to dry the land for the plow. Many of the 
smaller swamps are changed before actual clearing takes place. 
Where the fires following the logging operations have cleaned 
out the swamp thicket, aspen followed the fire exactly as in the 
upland, and though in some cases many years have elapsed, the 


42 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


places have not reverted to swamp timber. The ground is too* 
dry, the hardwood thickets have come to stay. These things 
are well known, especially to the woodsmen of the region; they 
are in all cases referred to the removal of timber, and there is 
probably no locality in the w T orld where this subject could bet¬ 
ter be studied than in North Wisconsin. A drive with some 
old resident through the settled parts of Shawano, Marathon, 
Taylor, and other counties and the rehearsal of his memories pre¬ 
sent matters of the utmost interest in this connection, and will 
hardly fail to convince even the most skeptical of the decided 
changes in drainage and soil moisture which have occurred here 
and are still in progress. 

THE OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE. 

It is impossible to foretell how long the pine is likely to last.. 
As stumpage increases in price and the opportunity to buy it 
decreases, one mill after another drops out. Half the mills of 
20 years ago are no longer in existence, not because they failed 
to pay but because their pine supplies gave out, and this same 
process will continue. The output^ already on the decline, will 
grow smaller, and the exploitation of the 17 billion feet of stand* 
ing timber is likely to be drawn out over a period far greater than 
would seem possible with the present rate of cutting. Never¬ 
theless, the experience of parts of Michigan and also of Wood, 
Portage, and other counties in Wisconsin indicate that cutting 
will go on without regard to the end, and its rate depends 
merely on considerations of market conditions and facilities for 
handling timber, so that the end of the greater part of pine lum¬ 
bering is likely to be quite sudden, and its effect correspond¬ 
ingly severe. 

The cut of hemlock, though still small, may at any time take- 
on considerable dimensions. There are several good reasons 
which make this desirable. The wood is much better than is 
commonly assumed, and it is mere prejudice—and more the 
prejudice of the carpenter than of the consumer—which pre¬ 
fers poor pine to good hemlock. For some time the old hem- 


THE FUTURE . 


43 


lock has been dying ont quite rapidly in most parts of this area; 
this process will certainly continue and unless the old stands 
are cut, much valuable material will he lost. 

Hardwood lumbering will continue for a long time, though 
probably at a very variable rate. As things are now, the pres¬ 
ent cut of 4-500 million feet per year can be continued for 
more than 50 years unless settlement and consequent clearing 
should progress at a very unusual pace. 

The outlook for the forest itself has been indicated in the pre¬ 
ceding. The hardwood forest is being reduced by logging and 
clearing, the pineries are disappearing and fires assist the de¬ 
struction of both besides burning out the swamps. 

As pointed out, both white and red (Norway) pine are per¬ 
fectly capable not only of continuing as forests but of reclothing 
the old slashings, but are generally prevented from doing so by 
fire. 

The hemlock is in a process of natural degeneration and even 
the hardwoods, though thrifty and intact as forests, seem to fail 
on most cut-over lands wherever fire has run. Thus about 60 
per cent, of the burned over lands are today devoid of any val¬ 
uable growing timber; producing firewood at best. Another 40 
per cent, of the 8 million acres of cut-over lands are entirely 
bare. And this unproductive area is rapidly increasing in ex¬ 
tent under present methods. 

Counting that 100 feet B. M. could be grown as the possible 
annual increment per acre on lands which are left entirely with¬ 
out care, save the protection against fire, the State of Wisconsin 
loses by this condition of affairs a round 800 million feet B. M. 
of a marketable and much needed material. This loss is pri¬ 
marily a communal loss, a damage to county and state, for the 
individual owner does not suffer; the land is bought for the 
timber and when this is cut the land is only held if it appears 
that a low tax assessment and opportunities to sell, etc., will 
promise more profit in holding than in abandoning it. 


44 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


FORESTRY OR AGRICULTURE. 

The point is raised that this land is needed for agricultural 
purposes; that all of it will soon be settled since even on the 
poor sand lands improved methods and potato crops have proved 
a success. While the statement is certainly true of all good 
clay or loam lands, it applies but doubtfully to over half and 
certainly not at all to nearly 40 per cent, of this area. How 
long it takes to improve a territory, how much unproductive 
waste remains even in the older so-called “well settled” counties 
appears from the following concrete cases. 

Of old Sauk county not one-half is improved land; the five 
counties of Adams, Waushara, Juneau, Marquette, and Mon¬ 
roe, with an aggregate area of over 2 million acres of uncom¬ 
monly level land, have 30 per cent, improved land, or over one 
and one-half million acres of waste and brush land, most of which 
is not even serving the purpose of pasture. Adams, Marquette, 
and Waushara counties with their 800,000 acres of waste land, 
instead of having 80 million feet of pine to sell which might be 
growing every year on its non-productive area, supported in 
1895 a wood industry whose product amounted to the pitiful 
sum of $13,000 and probably the material for this was imported. 

But even where the land is good and might all be farmed it 
remains doubtful whether the forest can entirely be dispensed 
with. Experience in older countries and the Eastern States 
speaks against this; the farmers of the fertile prairies are plant¬ 
ing trees for the sake of wood, on land of unexcelled fertility. 
Some of the farmers of Trempealeau and other counties who go 
20 and more miles, invading jack pine groves for their fuel, find 
that wood is both too necessary to do without and too bulky to 
haul far; and valuable as pasture land is to the thrifty farmer 
of southern Wisconsin, the great importance of a convenient 
wood supply has led to an actual increase in wooded area in 
most of the southern counties of the state. 

How soon: the 17 million acres of wild land of North Wis- 
oonsin will be settled no one can tell; the likelihood is that over 


WASTE. 


45 


10 million acres, and among these much of the best land, will 
still remain either woods or unproductive brush land in 50 years 
to come. What advantage it is to a county and to the state to 
have poor, unproductive sand lauds settled by poor and igno¬ 
rant people, and support farms “without barns,” cannot here be 
discussed. In the same way, it is not here contemplated to en¬ 
ter into the question of communal property, i. e., whether it 
might not be well for a county, which can get land for the 
mere taking, to hold a few townships in county forests and 
have these county forests at least defray the county expenses, 
and give work to many people. If not the counties, certainly 
the state can afford to acquire and hold for the future all cut¬ 
over lands. Such communal properties have been mainstays 
of European states in all financial crises and have been eagerly 
sought and guarded by all European governments as well as by 
towns, counties, and cities. With a county holding 100,000 
acres of good forest land, every citizen becomes part owner, his 
store or shop is valued in proportion as it shares these advant¬ 
ages, and instead of hindering the development of a county, as 
is often claimed, such a forest property would stimulate im¬ 
migration and help to develop both directly and indirectly all 
the resources of the county. 

RECOVERY AND PREVENTION OF WASTE. 

What can be done to save the enormous loss to the state is 
clear: The land must be restocked and the young timber must 
be given a chance to grow on all lands which are essentially 
forest soil and not desirable for agriculture. 

Forest Fires .—What the fire has done to the pine supply is 
apparent from the conservative figures of original stand of pine. 
Besides this injury to pine, the fire has killed more than 5 bil¬ 
lion feet of hemlock, at least 1 billion of cedar and several bil¬ 
lions of hardwoods besides large quantities of tamarack. In ad¬ 
dition fire has killed stands of young and sapling pine (under 
8-inch diameter) covering many thousand acres, which today 


46 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


would furnish 5 billion and more of merchantable material. 
This same work of destruction continues; this very fall (1897) 
many hundreds of acres of young sapling pine were ruined by 
fire, and it will require many years before the opening of set¬ 
tlements and roads suffices to suppress the fire fiend. From this 
it is clear, and the fact is fully conceded by all persons convers¬ 
ant with the conditions of these woods, that the first and most 
important step in the right direction consists in the organiza¬ 
tion of an efficient fire police. 

That a diversity of opinion should exist on this subject, is 
but natural. To most people the entire subject is foreign, the 
problem too large. To many even well informed and experi¬ 
enced men the forest fire is an enormous affair, a calamity 
which man is entirely unable to combat. Nevertheless, the 
best informed men, nearly all woodsmen (“cruisers” and log¬ 
gers), whose opinion was sought in this connection expressed 
themselves in favor of such a police and felt certain of good re¬ 
sult. In considering this important subject it may be of in¬ 
terest to point out a few fundamental facts which may help to 
shape a policy. 

1. All fires have a small beginning. The Peshtigo fire, by 
far the most terrific ever experienced in Wisconsin, was known 
to be burning and gathering head for fully two weeks before it 
broke out in the final and then perfectly unmanageable form. 
The Phillips fire was heard and the smoke seen and felt in town 
for days before it reached the village and converted it into 
mins. 

2. All fires stop of their own accord after they have run for 
but a moderate distance, evidently finding obstacles which gradu¬ 
ally reduce their power. The Peshtigo fire did not involve the 
fourth part of Marinette county; the Phillips fire not a fourth 
of Price, and a most intense fire in northern Chippewa county, 
which when at its best sent fire-brands across a lake over half 
a mile wide, did not keep on running, but stopped without 
going much, if any, beyond the county line. 

3. The majority of fires are small fires. When the “whole 


WASTE. 


47 


•country is on fire” it is not one fire but hundreds of separate 
fires, all or nearly all of which have had their origin in careless¬ 
ness. 

4. It is carelessness and not malice, and it is more careless¬ 
ness of letting fires go than of starting them which has resulted 
in the enormous losses. 

5. Forest fires are diminishing in number as settlement pro¬ 
gresses; every road, every clearing, helps to supply barriers, in¬ 
creases the number watching and fighting fires, and assists in 
the work of control. 

6. Forest fires are both prevented and fought in the wild 
forests of India and in all parts of Europe; in localities where 
hundreds of acres of the young sapling pine with their fine 
largely dead and dried up branches (along the lower part of the 
stem), stand so thick that it is difficult to pass and where in ad¬ 
dition poverty and chagrin among a dense population living 
close to the confines ofi the woods furnishes wilful and malicious 
incendiaries. 

To the greater part of the opponents of such enterprise it 
may also be pointed out that for this country experience Is as 
yet almost entirely wanting; that in New York, in Maine, and 
in Canada the fire police has done well and that it is impossible 
for anyone to say at present, just how successful the fire police 
of North Wisconsin will be. Even the little which has of late 
been attempted to educate, remind, and warn the people in 
matters of forest fires has already produced good results. The 
placards sent out by the State Land office, practically without 
cost to the state, have been extensively and judiciously placed, 
the people read them and mind them. In this connection it is 
to be regretted that the good attempts which have been made, 
especially by the lumbermen of the Menominee river, to in¬ 
troduce the burning over of the “works” or choppings through¬ 
out the woods, has not found favor and was abandoned. This 
process, experience shows, costs only 3 to 5 cents per thousand 
feet of logs and would practically put an end to the regular 
slashing fires. In the light of past experience it is clear to all 


48 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


that not only 5 cents but even 50 cents per M. feet could prof¬ 
itably have been devoted to the suppression of fire. 

Changes on Cut-Over Lands .—The condition and character 
of the aftergrowth on cut-over lands is quite variable, since 
changes occur in the plant cover as well as in soil conditions ac¬ 
cording to original condition and subsequent treatment. These 
conditions and changes have a bearing on the question of the 
future of these lands, whether they be left alone or be restocked 
with timber,, so that it appears desirable to give a description at 
least of the more frequent types. 

Sand Pinery Lands. —1. When a clean dense stand of ma¬ 
ture pine timber is cut, and the fire gets into the slashing late 
the following summer after all the limbs and tops on the ground 
have had a chance to dry, the ground is fairly cleared by the 
fire, the bulk of the tops are burned, a “stump prairie” remains. 
On the poor sandy soil whose small humus cover has been thus 
destroyed, there comes first a crop of fire weeds, then aspen and 
sweet fern, with other weeds, and some grass and isolated 
bushy scrub oaks (often some willows) cover the ground 
sparsely. As soon as enough dry leaves and other material have 
accumulated the fire recurs and the small aspen and other growth 
are killed. By this time the ground is much reduced in fertility, 
aspen is slower to return and the ground is largely taken by 
weeds and grass. A few repetitions of fire change the ground 
sufficiently to prevent the further growth of aspen for years 
and there are many areas where this tree has given up all effort 
to restock the land. 

This seems to be the common form of slashing in heavy pine. 
Such areas furnish little foliage for live Stock, they are naturally 
poor, and this condition is much aggravated by repeated fires 
and exposure to wind and sun. To an attempt at restocking 
with timber they offer no obstacle, save their poverty, which 
would soon be changed by growing timber. 

If the fire is not repeated in such a slashing the aspen forms 
dense thickets in which pine, birch, and maple gradually find 
suitable conditions for their growth. Bor years the detrimental 


SAND PINERY LANDS. 


49 


effect of the fire is visible in the stunted growth of the young 
trees; aspen, which in the original forest grow often several feet 
a, year in height, remain short runts and it is not until ten and 
more years of rest from fire have permitted the accumulated 
litter to improve the soil, that a more vigorous growth becomes 
apparent. Tracts of this kind occur in every county, but they 
form only a small percentage of the total area of cut-over lands; 
they are troublesome to clear after the thickets once have at¬ 
tained considerable height and they furnish no good pasture. 
To continue them as woodlands they require merely protection 
from fire, and for their improvement pine should be supplied 
either as seed or plants wherever it is wanting. 

2. Where the old stand of pine was broken, and a consid¬ 
erable mixture of small pine and hardwoods existed, there re¬ 
mains after the first fire a large amount of scorched and charred 
standing, dead and dying material. In this, as in the following 
form of cut-over pinery lands, young growth readily succeeds 
provided fires are not repeated. But this happy accident does 
not generally occur; the great quantity of dead material, most 
of which does not fall during any one year, keeps the ground 
furnished for several years with debris and thus invites the re¬ 
turn of fires, which continue to come until the ground is largely 
cleared. The area now resembles the case first considered; it 
is a stump prairie, though usually not as clean. Here, too, the 
return of tree growth is very slow and often discouraged alto¬ 
gether for years. 

3. Where groves of sapling pine have been culled of their 
larger timber and are then fired, the greater part of the remain¬ 
ing growth is injured and much of it is killed. These injured 
groves are generally of little promise in themselves; their growth 
is hampered, the:-* scorched butts doomed to decay; but they are 
valuable in so far a they readily restock the ground with young 
timber, providing this is not killed by fire. If fire occur, which 
is the more common case, the entire grove is either gradually 
burned and killed, or if the fire gets in during a very dry season 


50 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


and attains considerable proportions, the entire grove is changed 
at once into a tangle of scorched and charred poles, which require 
for their improvement either a great amount of labor and ex¬ 
pense or else the starting of more fires to first get rid of the 
debris. Where fire runs through slashings (in large timber) too 
early in the season when the ground is still wet, and also where 
no fire occurs for several years after logging, so that the leaves 
have become litter, and the small twigs are decayed, then the 
slashings, even of wasteful operations where large amounts of 
heavy tops and much dead and down material exists, are often 
not burned clean and the ground is strewn with scorched logs 
and tops, and many cases exist where settlers are logging today 
on old slashings of this kind although not a living pine occurs. 

It is but natural that these several forms grade into each other, 
and that nearly every slashing, especially during the first few 
years, markedly changes its complexion. In general the bare 
land form predominates in all pinery areas and occupies today 
probably about 70 per cent, of the cut-over lands. 

Loam and Clay Lands. —4. A greater admixture of hard¬ 
woods, due to the presence of a larger amount of clay in the soil, 
materially affects the condition of the cut-over land. If pine 
was predominant and the hardwoods scant, as on the red clays 
about Lake Superior and on the poorer gravelly loam, the re¬ 
moval of the heavy stand of pine commonly involves almost a 
total destruction of the hardwoods just as in the case of the regu¬ 
lar pinery; the ground is soon cleared by a repetition of fires, the 
aspen ceases to return. Unlike the sands, however, these loam 
lands soon produce a fair amount of grass and the land is con¬ 
verted into pasture. 

5. Where the hardwood is heavier, and especially where 
hemlock enters into the composition of the forest, the dead tim¬ 
ber remains standing for years. A forest of dead trees and often 
400-800 cords of timber per acre may be seen after repeated and 
often severe fires have swept over the ground. Such areas are 
not rare; the fires of 1894 created quite a number. They are 


RESTOCKING.' 


51 


undesirable pasture lands, difficult to clear and still largely too 
good to be restocked with timber, which in such places would 
require considerable labor and expense. 

6. Where the heavy hardwoods and hemlock predominated 
and the pine was a mere scattered admixture, the ground and 
litter are usually damp, and fires run only during exceptionally 
dry seasons (as in 1894). The removal of the pine from these 
areas is not followed by fire; the lands are left densely timbered, 
so that they hardly seem to deserve the appellation of cut-over 
lands. Nevertheless, even in these forests fires have run, never 
far, to be sure, but still strips five miles and more in length are 
seen, where the fire has left a dense, heavy cover of dead and 
dying, scorched and charred trees of all kinds. Fortunately 
these tracts are not very numerous; their only hope lies in clear¬ 
ing them for farm purposes, for which nearly all of this heavier 
land is eminently well suited. 

Restocking .—What may be done to restock the land will vary 
from place to place, according as the land is well under way to 
reclothe itself, or is a bare waste, or is a tangle of debris or cov¬ 
ered .with worthless thickets of fire damaged woods. This work 
may be done at once or by piecemeal, it may be done thoroughly 
or roughly, it may assist nature to a small or large degree. 
Where scattered saplings and defective trees have been left in 
logging and have survived the fires, these trees continue to seed 
the ground, around each of them a little crop of seedlings springs 
up after good seed years (every 3 to 5 years), and, if protected, 
these grow and in about 20 years, by the time the mother trees 
are gone, bear seed themselves and then really the process of 
restocking begins. Thus much valuable time is lost and the 
ground remains exposed too long to wind and sun and is thereby 
reduced in its fertility. 

In many districts seed trees are wanting; repeated fires have 
killed both mother tree and seedlings, and nature must be as¬ 
sisted if anything is to be accomplished in reasonable time. In 
most sandy pinery lands where the fires have made a clean sweep, 
the work does not require much preparation, and a very cheap 


52 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


beginning can be made by planting a much smaller number (say> 
500 per acre) than is really needed to make a satisfactory stand. 
These plants, together with the poplar, birch, and other brush, 
would soon make a cover for the ground, the young pine would 
rapidly be growing into marketable wood and at the age of 
twenty years and less would begin to shed abundance of seed so 
that before the first trees are ready to cut every foot of ground 
would be covered by a promising pine thicket. 

Fire may have to be resorted to as a cheap and rapid means 
of clearing the ground where it is covered with large quantities 
of dead and fallen timber, and especially where dense thickets 
of fire-killed brushwood offer serious obstacles to any sylvicul¬ 
tural processes. The outlay for all work of this kind need be 
made but once; the forest once established will be permanent 
and by judicious logging and adequate protection against fire 
will renew itself indefinitely. 

Of equal and perhaps greater importance than the choice of 
proper methods will be the selection of the proper kinds to plant. 
Among the native growth the pines are preferable to the hard¬ 
woods, and the white pine is foremost here as in every other re¬ 
spect. Nevertheless, red (Norway) pine and even jack pine will 
prove of great value and may often have to be resorted to. The 
value of these pines lies in part in their frugality, since they are 
perfectly satisfied with poor soils, really unfit for farming. 
They are still more valuable in their gregarious habit, thriving 
in great numbers together and thus facilitating exploitation, and 
in their capacity of developing a large number of trees on a 
small area. These powers, together with the great length of 
their trunk, causes them to produce large yields, and, finally, 
the character of their wood ensures for their product an almost 
unlimited market at all times. 

The white pine will thrive on 90 per cent, of all sandy areas 
of Wisconsin and on all loam and clay lands, grows fast and in 
very dense stands, is useful for pulp at 30 years, for box boards 
at 50 and makes lumber at 80 to 100 years. According to the 
experience in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, groves 60 


RESTOCKING. 


53 


years old cut over 30 M. feet shook boards per acre, and furnish 
trees 12 to 20 inches in diameter and over 70 feet in height. 
These New England groves, which have largely sprung up on 
old abandoned farmlands and are generally without any particu¬ 
lar management, are reported to furnish in the aggregate from 
30 to 50 million feet per year. 

Red (Norway) pine is even more frugal than white pine and 
there is no sandy area in northern Wisconsin which this tree can 
not cover with an abundant growth of fine timber. The jack 
pine is the most frugal tree of all and though of small stature 
and short-lived in Wisconsin, will prove a valuable aid in con¬ 
nection with the other pines and especially as nurse tree on the 
poorest sands. 

To encourage the hardwoods will not be necessary except in 
some localities. Wherever abundant now they are growing 
well and are likely to be continued in the wood lot of the farmer 
on all clay and loam soils. It may safely be predicted that the 
hardwoods in the better hardwood counties will be abundant for 
many years. The hardwoods do not thrive on; most of the land 
here considered “forest land,” they refuse to grow on the sands, 
yield light and cut wastefully. They furnish a product, which 
however valuable intrinsically, will for a long time have to be 
contented with a limited and exacting market. 

To those who are frightened at the mere idea of planting for¬ 
ests and who scorn European methods as impracticable in this 
country, the example of Saxony may be of interest. In that 
country the most intensive kind of forestry is carried on, so that 
an area of 400,000 acres (about 2-3 as large as Lincoln county) 
brings the state a net income of nearly 2 million dollars, and 
furnishes regularly to its consumers about 20 million cubic feet 
of wood per year, so that pulp mills and saw mills have long be¬ 
come permanent institutions. 

The forests in this state are largely planted with nursery stock, 
yet the sylvicultural work of planting, sowing, etc., all told, 
amounts, on an average for the entire woods, to 10 cents per 


54 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


acre a year. This sum is only 6 per cent, of the total forest 
expenses, which include all logging operations. 

We can not here consider whether all these efforts will pay 
as long as the land is held by private owners whose fortunes are 
only of today and whose heirs will prefer to parcel the land out 
to inexperienced settlers. The experience abroad and also in 
this country indicates that the state must undertake at least the 
most difficult and unprofitable parts of the work, and that the 
greatest good to the greatest number lies in state ownership of 
forests. New York waited a long time to see private owners 
manage rationally in its woods, but has found itself compelled 
at last to buy the land and to establish a forest organization to 
keep its mountains from being converted into desert brushlands 
and its streams from being alternately dry branches and mud 
torrents. A similar undertaking in Wisconsin would, at pres¬ 
ent, be greatly facilitated by the present conditions of owner¬ 
ship. The land is still held in large bodies and by men actively 
engaged in a business quite distinct from speculation and dealing 
in real estate, and ‘therefore a transfer could in most cases very 
easily be effected and at prices (25 to 50 cents per acre) which 
would seem to guarantee financial success to forestry even in the 
backwoods of Wisconsin. 


RESUME. 

Briefly stated, the present conditions are as follows: 

The State of Wisconsin, with a population of about 2 million,, 
a taxable property of about 600 million dollars, has a home con¬ 
sumption of over 600 million feet B. M. of lumber, besides 
enormous quantities of other w T ood material, which, if imported 
would cost the State over 25 million dollars. Of its northern 
half, a land surface of over 18 million acres, only 7 per cent, 
is cultivated, the rest forming one continuous body of forest and 
wasteland. From this area there have been cut during the last 
60 years more than 85 billion feet B. M. of pine lumber alone, 
and the annual cut during the past ten years exceeded 3 billion 
feet on the average per year. 


R&SUM&. 


55 


The industries exploiting this resource represented in 1890 
one-sixth of the total taxable property in the State, paid to over 
55,000 men the sum of over 15 million dollars in wages, and 
the value of their products was equal to more than one-third the 
entire output of agriculture. Of an original stand of about 
130 billion feet of pine, about 17 billion feet are left, besides 
about 12 billion feet of hemlock and 16 billion feet of hard¬ 
woods. The annual growth, which at present amounts to about 
900 million feet and of which only 250 million is marketable 
pine and over 500 million feet hardwoods, is largely balanced by 
natural decay of the old, over-ripe timber. In almost every 
town of this region logging has been carried on and over 8 mil¬ 
lion of the 17 million acres are “cut-over” lands,, largely burned 
over and waste. The wooded area proper is steadily being re¬ 
duced by logging and to a smaller extent by clearing. 

At present nothing is done either to protect or restock the 
denuded cut-over lands of which fully 80 per cent, are now un¬ 
productive wasteland and probably will remain so for a long 
time. This policy causes a continuous and ever growing loss to 
the commonwealth, which at present amounts to about 800 mil¬ 
lion feet per year of useful and much needed material, besides 
gradually but surely driving from the State the industries which 
have been most conspicuous in its development, depriving a cold 
country of a valuable factor in its climatic conditions and affect¬ 
ing detrimentally the character of the main drainage channels 
of the State. 

To remedy this matter and stop the great loss, it will be neces¬ 
sary to adopt active measures both to protect and restock. Both 
these processes are adaptive and may be done with a variable de¬ 
gree of thoroughness and consequent outlay. 


56 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


FOREST CONDITIONS IN THE SEVERAL COUNTIES. 

Ashland. —The northern one-fifth was formerly a pinery on red clay 
soil with a thin sprinkling of inferior hardwoods, some hemlock and 
occasional cedar and even tamarack on the more level areas. South 
of this a mixed forest of hardwoods, hemlock, and pine on gray loam 
and clay lands stocked both slopes of the range as well as nearly all 
parts south of the range. In places, especially along streams, pine 
was predominant, as was also the case on the small sandy tract 
along the Flambeau river in the southeast corner of the county. The 
pine timber along the lake, excepit that of the Indian reservation, is 
cut and the pine has been culled from most of the mixed forest and 
is estimated, all told, at only 300 million feet. Small patches about 
the mines have been cut clean of all timber. Generally the hard¬ 
woods and hemlock are culled and with a yield of 4 M. per acre 
amount to about 700 million feet of hemlock and 900 million of hard¬ 
woods, of which birch and basswood form fully 60 per cent., while 
oak is hardly of economic importance. Fires have injured Ashland 
county only in the pinery along the lake and thus even the swamps 
are fairly well stocked with cedar, tamarack, and some spruce. 

Barron. —The northern one-third, a gray loam and gravel land, was 
stocked with a mixed forest of pine and hardwoods, the pine prevail¬ 
ing, except on the ridges of the northwestern part of the county. In 
the central part on a variable sandy loam, was a pinery with a thin 
mixture of hardwoods and occasional better hardwood bodies. (See 
“Soo” Line from Cameron west.) The southeastern one-fifth of the 
county was sandy and bore jack pine and oak openings. The pine 
is cut, except in the northern and northeastern towns; the hardwoods 
are culled and in nearly all parts of the county damaged by fire. The 
standing pine is in isolated bodies and is estimated at 150 million 
feet. The scattering bodies of better hardwoods are believed to repre¬ 
sent a stand of about 250 million feet in which oak, basswood, birch, 
and maple enter in nearly equal proportions. The few swamps of 
this county are reported bare of merchantable timber in larger quan¬ 
tities. Large tracts of cut-over and burned land occur in nearly all 
parts. 

Bayfield. —A belt of red clay, 6 to 10 miles wide, skirting the lake, is 
pinery with a light mixture of scrubby hardwoods and some hemlock. 
The southeastern one-third, occupied by the basins of the Nemakagon 
and White rivers, is a mixed forest of pine, hardwood, and hemlock 


CONDITIONS IN COUNTIES. 


57 


on a gravelly gray loam; and the central and western part, a broad 
belt extending from T. 50, E. W. southwest into Douglas county, 
is a sandy jack pine and Norway pinery, with considerable white 
pine in places. The timber along the lake, except that of the Eed 
Cliff reservation, is generally cut; it is also heavily cut into on White 
and Nemakagon rivers and along the Northern Pacific Eailway. The 
present stand of pine is about 3,000 million feet, of which a large part 
falls to the regular pinery lands. In addition, there are about 400 
million feet of hemlock and an equal amount of hardwoods, most of 
which is birch, basswood, and maple; the oak, though abundant as 
scrub wood, being scarcely represented as a real timber tree. 

On some of the “barrens” or jack pine and bare sandy lands, no 
timber existed when logging began, but there is evidence that in for¬ 
mer times they, too, were covered by a forest of larger timber. 

The numerous swamps of the southeastern part of this county are 
fairly well stocked with both cedar and tamarack and also some 
spruce. The swamps of the estuaries along the lake are generally cov¬ 
ered by heavy growth of cedar. Bare wastes of great extent occur in 
all localities where pine logging has been going on. 

Burnett. —Nearly the entire county is a sandy jack pine and Norway 
pinery, dotted with regular “barrens” and island patches of better 
loam lands. In the northwest corner, north of the St. Croix river, 
is a tract of gray loam lands stocked originally with pine, lightly 
mixed with hardwoods. Along the south line of the county extends 
a body of loam lands covered in part by heavy and almost pure 
stands of hardwoods, only the sandy depressions bearing pine. The 
pine in this county is largely cut, the little hardwood damaged by 
fire and only jack pine occurs in extensive woods. The scattering 
pine is estimated at about 200 million feet and about 200 million feet 
of hardwoods are believed to occur in this county, besides some 300 
million feet of jack pine, which sooner or later must become of value. 
The swamps are largely bare or else covered by a light growth of 
tamarack. A large part of this county is positively bare land, being 
devoid of any forest cover. 

Chippewa. —The southwestern and south central one-fifth of the 
county is oak openings and prairie (extensively settled) in its west¬ 
ern, and jack pine woods in its eastern part; the remaining four-fifths 
of the county are forest. Of this, the part east of the Chippewa 
river and small tracts along the river on the west side, are covered 
by a mixed forest in which hemlock and birch are abundant, except 
on the southeastern part of the county, where the birch and hem¬ 
lock forest merges into an oak forest. In the timbered part of the 
county west of the river the hemlock is missing and birch much less 


58 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


common. Though the pine has been cut in all parts of this large 
county, there is still a considerable amount scattered and in isolated 
bodies which is estimated at about 500 million feet. The hardwoods 
have been cut into in the southeastern and also in the northwestern 
part and large tracts have suffered heavily from the fires of the large 
pine slashings following all the streams; the hemlock has been cut 
but little, but like the hardwoods, has been damaged by fire. The 
standing hardwood and hemlock yield about 5 M. per acre, the yield 
in the pure hardwoods of the western part being lighter. About 
800 million feet of hemlock and about 1,100 million hardwoods are be¬ 
lieved to exist in this county. In the hardwoods in the western and 
also the southeastern woods the oak is predominant, but on the whole 
forms little over 10 per cent., while basswood and birch form over 
half the total supply. 

The swamps, extensive only in the northeastern part of the county, 
have been much run over by fires and are, therefore, very poorly 
stocked. Large areas of burned-over wastes occur along all the 
streams. 

Clark .—The greater part is a level loam land area, formerly cov¬ 
ered by a forest of hardwoods, mixed with a remarkably heavy stand 
of large white pine. Hemlock occurs only in the northeastern por¬ 
tion. The western and southern part is invaded by the sandy area 
covering Jackson and Eau Claire counties, and was formerly covered 
by a pine forest without hardwoods. The pine has nearly all been 
cut and was sawed at La Crosse and Eau Claire, and only about 20? 
million are believed to be still standing. The hardwoods are culled 
especially for oak and have suffered from fires. The remaining sup¬ 
ply is estimated at only about 650 million feet, of which oak is still 
nearly 30 per cent., the remainder being chiefly basswood and elm. 
Clark county has few swamps and these are poorly stocked. 

The greater part of the county today is still covered by culled hard¬ 
woods, much of it is settled and only the sandy pinery presents tracts 
of bare waste many miles in extent. 

Douglas .—The northern one-third of this county is red clay land 
with pinery in which is found an unusual mixture for this State of 
pine (chiefly white pine), white and yellow birch, and other hard¬ 
woods commonly with more or less cedar and tamarack. South of 
this and extending south to the St. Croix river and east to the Brule 
river is a similar forest of pine with a somewhat heavier mixture of 
hardwoods, heaviest on the range, growing on gray loam land. The 
southeastern part, south and east of the St. Croix, is a sandy jack 
pine and Norway pinery with large jack pine woods following the 
river into Burnett county. The pine has been cut along the lake and 


CONDITIONS IN COUNTIES. 


59 


also along the St. Croix river and the railways, but there is still a 
great deal of standing timber in large and small bodies, estimated to 
cut about 3,500 million feet, xhe hardwoods have been little invaded, 
but since they form here but a secondary mixture, they are largely 
killed by fire when the pine slashings are burned, as is well illustrated 
by the country about, and south of Superior. On Maple Ridge con¬ 
siderable hardwood is cut, and strangely enough, oak forms often as 
much as 25 per cent, of the yield. Scattering as they are, the hard¬ 
woods are still believed to be about 700 million feet. 

Dunn. —Of the sandy eastern half the northern portion is jack pine 
woods and openings, the rest oak openings with real prairies. Of 
the western half the clay and loam land ridges were covered with al¬ 
most pure hardwoods and the more sandy valleys were stocked with 
a mixed growth of large pine and hardwoods, the former often pre¬ 
vailing. The woods on Hay river partook of the regular pinery form 
and merged into the jack pine w r oods of the northeastern towns. The 
pine is practically all cut, though the scattering patches still amount 
to several million feet. The hardwoods are much interrupted by 
clearings, many tracts have been culled and even cut clean. The iso¬ 
lated tracts of hardwood, with a yield of about 4 M. per acre, are es¬ 
timated to cut 400 million feet of which oak is 25 per cent., and bass¬ 
wood and maple form 50 per cent. The few swamps are generally 
bare of merchantable material. Large areas of bare wasteland occur 
in the jack pine district and may be seen along the railway between 
Wheeler and Summit. Many groves of fine young white pine are fast 
growing into timber about Menomonie. 

Florence. —The greater part of this county was a mixed forest of 
pine, hardwoods, and hemlock on a gray loam, with smaller tracts of 
regular pine land, especially along the streams, and a larger tract 
in the northeastern part, where even jack pine woods covered con¬ 
siderable ground. At present the pine is largely cut, and only about 
150 millions of feet are believed to exist in this county. The hard¬ 
woods and hemlock have not been cut except small patches about the 
towns, but have been injured in places by fire. With 4 M. feet per 
acre of both hardwood and hemlock, the cut of the latter is about 
300 million feet and that of the former about 400 million feet, of 
which basswood, birch, and maple form 75 per cent., while oak 
scarcely occurs. The swamps are generally covered and swell the en¬ 
tire cut of timber by over 100 million feet. Burned areas occur in 
every town of the county, occupying 20 per cent, of the entire land 
surface. Here, as in other counties, they form a far greater propor¬ 
tion of the area than is usually supposed. 

Forest. —The northwest quarter of the county is largely a flat. 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


£0 

swampy pinery, the rest is a forest of mixed hardwood, pine, and hem¬ 
lock, generally on gravelly gray loam. This mixed forest is inter¬ 
rupted and dotted with numerous bodies of pine lands, where the 
hemlock and hardwood almost disappear. The pine is mostly cut. It 
is claimed that about 500 million feet are still standing. The hardwoods 
and hemlock are unculled and but little hurt by fires except about the 
pine slashings. With 4 M. feet per acre of well stocked woods there 
are about 500 million feet of hemlock and 1,000 million feet of 
hardwoods, of which birch and basswood form about 60 per cent. As 
in the neighboring counties, a little red oak occurs in Forest, but is 
thinly scattered over the entire county and would hardly form more 
than 2 per cent, of the cut. Many of the swamps are open bogs, the 
rest are generally stocked and the swamp timber, cedar, tamarack, 
and spruce, amount to fully 300 million feet. Nearly all pine slash¬ 
ings are burned bare, so that a considerable amount of waste land 
occurs. 

Iron. —The southern one-fourth is a flat, loamy sand pinery of the 
same nature and continuous with that of Vilas and the northeast cor¬ 
ner of Price counties. The rest is a loam and clay area with a mixed 
forest of hardwoods, pine, and hemlock. On the range the hardwoods 
and hemlock predominate and pine is scattering, otherwise the pine 
forms a heavy mixture everywhere. The numerous swamps, espe¬ 
cially abundant in the southern half of the county, are generally 
stocked with cedar, tamarack, and some spruce, and these woods also 
invade more or less the low, flat portions of the ordinary woods, 
which are not really swamp. At present the pine is cut from parts 
of all townships, some of them being pretty well cleaned out, and the 
standing pine timber is estimated at only about 400 million feet. 
The hardwoods and hemlock have been cut clean on a small area about 
the mines, but otherwise remain unculled and not badly hurt by fire. 
The standing hemlock is estimated at about 350 million feet, and the 
hardwoods at about the same. Of these birch, basswood, and maple 
predominate. 

Jackson. —The western half is a sandy loam district almost entirely 
occupied by oak openings, mixed with some tracts of better soil with 
bodies of better hardwood timber. The eastern half is a level, sandy 
pinery with many swamps and no hardwood timber. This area fur¬ 
nished considerable pine, but is now largely cut and burned over, and 
only about 100 million feet of pine is claimed to be standing. Nu¬ 
merous small and large bodies of young sapling pine and also of jack 
pine interrupt the extensive bare wastes. The swamps which are 
generally bare of merchantable material, were formerly stocked 
chiefly with tamarack, but have been cleaned out by repeated fires. 


CONDITIONS IN COUNTIES. 


61 


Langlade .—This county is covered by a continuous mixed forest of 
hardwoods and hemlock in which pine occurred both scattered and 
in denser bodies in patches and belts, which unlike those of Mara¬ 
thon county, do not always follow the drainage courses. The pine is 
practically cut, though the scattered material is still estimated at 
about 150 million feet. The hardwoods are dense and heavy; their 
cutting has hardly begun, and fire has injured them but little, nor is 
it likely to do so in the future. The standing hemlock amounts to 
about 1,000 million feet, the hardwoods to 1,100 million feet. Birch, 
basswood, and elm in nearly equal proportions form about 80 per 
cent, of the hardwood, followed by maple and ash, and a very small 
quantity of oak. The swamps are generally stocked with cedar, 
tamarack, and some spruce. Larger bare areas occur along the Wolf 
river, and include in all parts only the pine slashings. 

Lincoln. —A mixed forest of hardwoods, hemlock, and pine covers 
the clay and loam lands, or about 80 per cent, of this county. A 
small strip along the Wisconsin river and a broad V shaped tract 
spreading northward from below the junction of the Tomahawk and 
Wisconsin rivers are sandy pinery. The pine is generally cut, only 
about 100 million being in larger bodies, but there is a great deal of 
scattered pine which will bring up the total cut to at least 250 million 
feet. The hardwoods are as yet unculled, have suffered little injury 
from fire, and with the hemlock will cut 6 M. feet per acre of all well 
stocked land. This means a total cut of about 1,000 million feet of 
hemlock and an equal amount of hardwoods, in which birch, bass¬ 
wood and elm represent about 70 per cent., oak only about 3 to 5 per 
cent. The swamps are largely stocked with both cedar and tamarack 
and a little spruce, but many of them have been burned into or were 
entirely cleaned out. Cut-over, burned, or bare lands exist wherever 
pine was dense and in the aggregate amount to many thousand acres 
of the very kind of land least desirable for farming. 

Marathon. —This county was a continuous mixed forest of pine, hard¬ 
woods, and hemlock, except the narrow border along the large? 
streams where pine prevailed. The pine is nearly all cut; the pres¬ 
ent stand is estimated at about 200 million feet, much of which is 
thinly scattered through parts of the mixed forest. The forest o» 
hardwoods and hemlock has been heavily cut into for more than ten 
years; it is interrupted by large clearings, but has not been injured 
much by fire. The standing hemlock is estimated at about 1,500 mil¬ 
lion feet, the hardwoods at about the same amount. Of the latter, 
birch and basswood in nearly equal amounts, form 60 per cent., elm 
20 per cent., and oak only about 5 per cent. 

Marathon has little swamp, most pine slashings have been burnt 


62 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


over and since so much good land exists all about, they are generally 
wastes. Many groves of young white and Norway pine may be seen 
along the Wisconsin river. Though well settled and stocked with 
hardwoods which do not encourage fires, even this county in the dry 
season of 1894 suffered considerably from fires, a fact which empha¬ 
sizes the need of organization for their prevention. 

Marinette. —The greater part of this county is a pinery. Its terri¬ 
tory is slightly invaded by the mixed forest of Florence and Forest 
counties along the county line. Isolated bodies of pine slightly mixed 
with hardwood and hemlock are scattered in parts of the pinery, par¬ 
ticularly in the towns along the Menominee river. Formerly, a 
heavy stand of pine mixed with hardwoods occupied the part next to 
Green Bay. This latter area was burnt over during the Peshtigo fire 
of 1871 and is now bare or brush land with some settlement. Pine 
has been cut in every town in the county; the present stand is esti¬ 
mated at about 1,500 million feet. The light mixture of hardwood 
and hemlock is largely fire-killed wherever the pine has been cut; 
the green timber remaining is estimated at nearly 500 million feet, 
half of which is hemlock. Of the hardwoods, maple, birch, and bass¬ 
wood predominate, oak as timber being very scarce. In the brushland 
along the Bay, the white cedar is disputing the ground with poplar 
and white birch. Extensive tracts of jack pine occur in the central 
and southwestern part. Large burned-over wastes exist in all parts 
of the county. 

Oconto .—Over nearly half of this county next to Green Bay, the 
variable sandy loam land was covered by a heavy forest of pine, mixed 
with hemlock and hardwoods. The central part of the county is a 
sandy belt of pinery land, continuous with the sandy pinery of Mari¬ 
nette and Shawano counties. The loam and clay lands of the north¬ 
ern one-fourth was stocked with a heavy mixed forest of hardwoods 
and hemlock, with pine either scattering or in small bodies. At pres¬ 
ent the lower part of the county is cut over, much of it bare and a 
large part settled. The pine is cut in nearly all parts, and only 65 to 
75 million feet are claimed to be standing. The hardwood forest, in 
which the beech is conspicuous only on the lower sandy loam lands, 
still covers a quarter of the county and is estimated to cut about 500 
million feet of hemlock and 400 million of hardwoods, principally 
birch, basswood, elm, and maple, considerable ash and little oak. The 
swamps of the lower part are burned over and extensively drained 
and utilized. Those of the north half are generally stocked, the cedar 
prevailing. Fine groves of young white pine are abundant in the 
southern towns. 

Oneida .—Almost the entire county is a loamy sand pinery, in which 


CONDITIONS IN COUNTIES. 


63 


good hardwoods and hemlock are practically wanting. A few iso¬ 
lated island-like bodies of mixed forest on heavier soil, a small tract 
in the southwestern and larger ones in the southeastern part of the 
county disturb the general uniformity. The pine has been cut along 
nearly all streams and railways, and the remaining timber occurs in 
interrupted stands and is estimated at 1,200 million feet, of which 
a considerable part is red (Norway) pine. Of about 60 million feet of 
hardwoods 40 belong to birch and basswood, the rest being elm and 
maple and very little oak. The hemlock is believed to cut about 20 
million feet and is too scattering to be considered at present. The 
numerous swamps, formerly stocked with tamarack, cedar, and some 
spruce have suffered much from fires. Large tracts of burned over 
and bare land occur in all parts of the county and of the numerous 
pine thickets, which occupy thousands of acres, a great many have 
been injured and killed by fire. 

Polk. —The northwestern corner from Wolf creek to the St. Croix 
river is sandy jack pine woods, which continue into Burnett county. 
The remainder of the northern half is generally a hardwood forest, 
quite pure on many of the ridges, mixed and often entirely displaced 
by pine in the sandier depressions and valleys. The southeastern 
portion, about two tiers of towns along the east line from the south¬ 
ern boundary northward, was pinery with light mixture of hardwoods 
and better bodies of hardwoods in places and the southwestern por¬ 
tion was jack pine and oak openings. The pine is mostly cut, the 
standing timber is in isolated bodies and is estimated at about 240 
million feet. The hardwoods have been extensively culled except in 
the northern townships, where a stand of about 600 million feet is be¬ 
lieved to exist. Of this, oak and basswood form over half, while 
birch is comparatively scarce. Polk county has few swamps and no 
large quantities of merchantable timber are claimed for these. Cedar 
is practically wanting. The jack pine woods are quite extensive and 
will yield a heavy cut. Bare areas are common here as in other coun¬ 
ties. A few of these tracts are stocked with fair-sized poplar which 
on this sandy loam seems to thrive better than elsewhere. 

Portage. —The southeast quarter is oak openings with groves of jack 
pine, especially in the western part. The southwest quarter is jack 
pine woods and in the southern portion, a marshy pinery, forming 
part of what is known as “Little Pinery.” The northern half, 
broader on the western side, was a mixed forest of pine and hard¬ 
woods with some hemlock and was divided by strips of sandy pinery 
following up the Wisconsin and Plover rivers. Both pine and hard¬ 
woods have been cut in nearly all parts of the county, but there are 
still smaller bodies and scattering timber to warrant an estimate of 


64 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


about 20 million feet of pine. The hardwoods and hemlock, of which 
some fair bodies exist in the northeastern part of the county, repre¬ 
sent a probable cut of about 150 million feet, 50 million being hem¬ 
lock. The extensive and dense jack pine woods will furnish 150 mil¬ 
lion feet of material for special mills or pulp purposes and will in 
time prove of considerable value. The swamps, of which a large part 
are open marshes, have suffered much from fires. Large tracts of 
burned-over pine slashings exist throughout the lumbered part of 
the county. 

Price .—The entire county is a level loam and gravelly loam area, 
formerly stocked with a most luxuriant mixed forest in which pine 
prevailed in most of the northern two-thirds and the hemlock and 
hardwoods in the rest. On a few small tracts, in the central part and 
also along the Oneida county line in the northeastern part of the 
county, a sandier soil gave rise to almost a pure pinery form of for¬ 
est. The pine is generally cut, about 200 million are still believed to 
be standing, but most of this is scattered and not over half in large 
bodies. The hemlock and hardwoods in over half the county have suf¬ 
fered seriously from fires and over large areas have been killed en¬ 
tirely. Nevertheless, there are nearly 400,000 acres of wooded area 
which are believed to cut about 1,000 million hemlock and 900 million 
feet of hardwoods. In the latter birch and basswood predominate,, 
with elm and maple following, both ash and oak being rather scarce. 
Price is one of the counties in which fire has done unusual damage 
and large areas are entirely bare of growing material. 

Sawyer .—A mixed forest of pine and hardwoods covered nearly the 
entire county, with two exceptions: (1) a narrow strip along the Ne- 
makagon river, which is a sandy jack pine and Norway pinery, and 
(2) a sandy pinery area south of Round lake from the Chippewa river 
west to the county line. The pine prevailed over considerable areas, 
as for instance, along the Chippewa and Flambeau rivers. Hemlock 
occurs only in the eastern two-thirds of the county, being rarely 
found west of Range 7 W. The pine has been cut along all the rivers, 
but there still remain large quantities, which in the aggregate are 
estimated at 2,000 million feet, and by some even at 2,500 million. 
The hemlock amounts to about 900 million feet, the hardwoods 1,000' 
million, of which fully half is birch and basswood and about 10 per 
cent, is oak, this latter occurring chiefly in the western part of the 
county. The 12 per cent, of swamp lands are generally stocked, 
though extensive damage has been done to those in the vicinity of 
pine slashings. Even in this county with little settlement, large 
tracts of burned-over lands are abundant. 

Shawano. —The southeastern one-third of this county, with its var- 


CONDITIONS IN COUNTIES. 


65 


iable sandy loam and loamy soil, was formerly covered by a heavy 
forest of pine, mixed with hardwoods. The country about lake 
Shawano and north to the county line is part of the sandy pinery 
district extending from this lake to the Menominee river. The north¬ 
western two-thirds was a very heavy mixed forest of hemlock, hard¬ 
woods, and pine, growing on a good, though in places very strong, 
loam and slay soil. The pine is cut, except in the Indian reservation, 
where about 300 million are still claimed to be standing. The hard¬ 
woods and hemlock of the southeastern two-thirds are culled and 
damaged by fire, those of the northwestern half are largely intact 
and have been injured only about pine slashings. The standing hem¬ 
lock is estimated at 650 million feet, the hardwoods at 700 million 
feet, of which basswood, elm, and maple form over 70 per cent., and 
oak only about 5 per cent. Beech occurs only in the sandy loam area. 
About 30,000 acres around Shawano are covered by young white pine, 
which has sprung up on old slashings. The extensive swamps of the 
southeastern part have all been burned over and many of them are 
being drained and cultivated. Those of the western half are largely 
stocked with cedar and tamarack, some of them yielding 15 M. feet 
and more per acre. Bare “stump prairies” occur in all parts of the 
county. 

Taylor .—A continuous mixed forest of pine, hardwoods, and hem¬ 
lock on a loam and clay soil covered the entire county. The pine 
has been cut, except small bodies in the southwestern part, estimated 
at about 200 million feet. The remaining forest still covers more 
than 60 per cent, of all wild lands and cuts about 6 M. feet per acre. 
In this forest hemlock is predominant, is estimated at about 1,500 
million feet, some good authorities placing it at 2,000 million. The 
hardwoods are about 1,000 million feet, of which 70 per cent, is bass¬ 
wood and birch and only about 5 per cent. oak. The few swamps are 
generally stocked with tamarack, some cedar, and spruce. Owing to 
the dense, damp cover of the mixed forest, Taylor county has suffered 
but little from fires, and large areas of bare land are comparatively 
scarce. 

Vilas .—A mixed forest stocks the better soils of the northern one- 
fourth of this county and forms some scattering island tracts; else¬ 
where it is an uninterrupted pinery, principally white pine with lit¬ 
tle Norway and hardly any jack pine, covering a rather level, loamy 
sand area dotted with several hundred lakes and numerous swamps. 
Pine lumbering began here along the Wisconsin river over 25 years 
ago, and the pine forest is cut into in almost every township. The 
present stand of pine is estimated at about 1,500 million feet, besides 
many thousand acres of sapling and young pine thickets which might 


F. w.—5* 


66 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


soon grow into valuable timber. Both hardwoods and hemlock are 
rather scattered, except in some of the northern townships. The 
hemlock is estimated at about 120 million feet, the hardwoods, of 
which birch, basswood, and maple are most important, at about 150 
million feet. Of the numerous swamps, which form over 20 per cent, 
of the area, many are open bogs, but the majority are stocked with 
tamarack and cedar and some spruce. Both in the swamps and the 
pine slashings, fire has made much havoc and large areas of bare 
stump wastes are abundant. 

Washburn .—An area involving the northwestern one-third of the 
county with broad arms extending up the Totogatic and Nemakagon 
rivers into Bayfield and Sawyer counties is sandy pinery with large 
bodies of jack and Norway pine, mixed with white pine. The rest of 
the county, generally a gravelly gray loam, was covered by a heavy 
stand of white pine with a light mixture of hardwoods. The pine is 
generally cut; the present stand is estimated at 350 million feet. The 
hardwoods have suffered much from fires and over large areas not a 
foot of merchantable timber exists. The standing hardwoods are 
estimated at about 220 million feet, of which basswood, maple, oak, 
and birch in nearly equal proportions form about 80 per cent. No 
swamp woods of commercial importance are reported. Some of the 
largest areas of perfectly bare, cut, and burned-over lands in Wiscon¬ 
sin occur in this county. 

Wood .—The north half of this county was covered by a heavy stand 
of white pine with a mixture of hardwoods, to which was added a 
sprinkling of hemlock along the north line. South of this the sandy 
loam and loamy sand area was covered by regular pinery, which gave 
way on the west side of the river to an extensive open marsh and 
cranberry bog dotted by sandy, pine covered islands. Extensive 
bodies of jack pine follow up the river into Portage county. 

The pine has nearly all been cut, and the 100 million feet of stand¬ 
ing pine assumed for this county are mostly scattering and sapling 
material. The hardwoods have long been culled in all parts of the 
county and not over 12 per cent, of the area, with a probable stand of 
of about 300 million feet is believed to remain. Of this hardwood over 
half is oak and basswood. The hemlock is confined to the northern 
towns and will cut about 50 million feet. Aside from the large open 
swamp in the southwestern part, there are comparatively few swamps 
in this county. Large cut-over and burned-over areas are numerous, 
and much land is stocked with culled woods furnishing ample fuel, etc. 
Some fine groves of young white pine may be seen along the Green 
Bay and Western R. R. near Grand Rapids. 


PRINCIPAL TREES. 


67 


LIST OF PRINCIPAL FOREST TREES OF NORTH 

WISCONSIN. 

(Arranged according to economic importance in the region.) 

I. CONIFERS. 

1. PINES. 

a. White pine ( Pinus strobas ) occurs in all parts of the territory, 
as scattering mixture in the better hardwood mixed forest of the 
heavy soils, predominant on lighter sandy and gravelly loams and as 
pinery proper on the extensive loamy sand areas. It is the largest 
and most valuable tree of the region. 

b. Red pine (Norway Pine) ( Pinus resinosa ) grows on all sandy 
pinery areas, scatteringly in the southern, abundant in the northern 
counties. It does not mix with the hardwoods on clay land except 
near Lake Superior, is generally mixed either with white or jack pine, 
but in places forms pure stands of considerable extent. In value it 
ranks second among the forest trees of North Wisconsin. 

c. Jack pine ( Pinus divaricata ) is a small tree, grows generally in 
thickets, either pure or mixed, stocks all poor sandy lands and unlike 
the other pines, it also occupies part of the openings. It is of limited 
economic value. 

2. HEMLOCK. 

Hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis) grows on all clay and loam lands of the 
eastern half of North Wisconsin; is either mixed scatteringly or evenly 
with the hardwoods or else predominates in bodies of variable extent. 
The hemlock is a large tree, grows slowly, is easily killed, even by 
mere exposure, and is not reproducing itself well in most parts of 
this region. It is of greater economic value than is generally be¬ 
lieved. 

3. CEDAR. 

Cedar—This tree, commonly called white cedar or simply cedar, 
should receive the name arborvitse ( Thuya occidentalis ) to distinguish 
it from other cedars. It is a medium sized tree of the swamps and 
the moist portions of the upland mixed forests. It occurs in most 
counties and prevails in the swamps of the Green Bay region; a tree 
of considerable value. 


68 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


4. TAMARACK. 

Tamarack ( Larix laricina) is the common swamp tree of North Wis¬ 
consin; it forms dense groves of pure growth, mixes with arborvitae 
and spruce, remains small in the swamps of the “openings,” but 
reaches a fair size (80 to 90 feet in height) in the swamps of the for¬ 
est region proper; of secondary value. 

5. SPRUCE. 

Spruce—White spruce, cat spruce ( Picea canadensis ) and black 
spruce ( Picea mariana ) are small shrubby half trees on the moss- 
covered bogs, and small to medium-sized trees on the better timbered 
swamps and the more humid portions of the loam and gravel land 
mixed forests. No distinction of species is made in using the wood, 
the logger’s distinction of white and black spruce referring to qual¬ 
ity of wood merely. The spruce occurs in all' parts but is most 
abundant in the northern and eastern counties. 

6. BALSAM. 

Balsam fir, commonly called balsam ( Abies talsamea ), is a small 
tree growing scattered in nearly all parts of the mixed forest. 


II. BROAD-LEAVED TREES (HARDWOODS). 

1. BASSWOOD. 

Basswood ( Tilia americana ) is a rather tall, long-shafted tree, com¬ 
mon in all hardwood forests; one of the most useful and best devel¬ 
oped. 

2. BIRCH. 

a. Yellow birch ( Betula lutea ) (also called erroneously “red birch,” 
“black birch” and “white birch” when in the log to distinguish char¬ 
acter of wood), is predominant in the hardwood forest within the 
hemlock area, grows on all loam and clay lands, but rarely enters the 
regular pinery. Though it is here assumed that the birch generally 
pronounced yellow birch is truly the Betula lutea , this cannot be con¬ 
sidered as settled, since the imperfect botanical distinctions between 
Betula lenta and Betula lutea render it difficult, if not impossible, to 
distinguish these two species in the field. 

How far the true sweet (or red) birch ( Betula lenta) replaces the 
yellow birch is as yet not certain. The woodsmen do not distinguish, 
except by the wood, and thus their classification is mainly one of qual¬ 
ity of timber and not of species. 

b. Paper birch ( Betula papyrifera), commonly called white birch, is 


PRINCIPAL TREES. 


69 


not to be confounded with the true white birch (Betula populifolto) 
which does not seem to occur in this region and is a much inferior 
tree. The paper birch is the characteristic hardwood tree of the 
fresher sandy soils, is always small, grows best in the northern coun¬ 
ties, does not thrive on the poorer sandy “barrens,” occasionally 
forms small thickets, is generally mixed with pine and along Green 
Bay with arborvitae. Like aspen, it enters extensively in the brush 
cover of many cut-over bare lands, but thrives only where consider¬ 
able sand is present in the soil. 


3. ELM. 

a. White elm ( Ulmus americana ) is a tall, long-shafted tree common 
in all hardwood forests. 

b. Cork elm ( Ulmus racemosa ), commonly called rock elm, replaces 
to quite an extent the preceding species in many localities, and prob¬ 
ably forms near 30 per cent, of all elm of the region. 

A “bastard” elm, with the foliage of white elm and the bark of cork 
elm, is often noted by the woodsmen. 

c. Slippery elm ( Ulmus pubescens) occurs sparingly in parts of this 
region. 

4. MAPLE. 

a. Sugar maple ( Acer sacckarum ) is a common tree Of all hardwood 
forests, and, to a very considerable extent invades with aspen and 
paper birch the regular pinery. Among the small, young growth of 
most hardwood forests it predominates in number. 

b. Silver maple ( Acer saccharinum) , often called soft maple, is quite 
generally distributed throughout the mixed forest, as is also the 

Bed maple ( Acer rubrum). The bush maples, spiked and striped 
maple ( Acer spicatum and Acer pennsylvanicum ) form a considerable 
part of the undergrowth in the mixed woods of the clay land. 

5. OAK. 

a. Bed oak ( Quercus rubra) is the common timber oak of the region 
and occurs in all counties, and on both sandy and clay soils, but is 
abundant only in the western and southern counties, and makes a 
good tree only on the heavier soils. 

b. Wlrite oak ( Quercus alba) occurs quite abundantly in the south¬ 
ern and southwestern counties, but is very scarce, in any form, in 
the greater part of the region. This is also true of the 

c. Bur oak ( Quercus macrocarpa). In the north central and eastern 
parts, in the upper Wisconsin, Menominee and Peshtigo basins the 
scarlet oak ( Quercus coccinea) is generally the only “scrub oak”; it is 
scattered here over extensive tracts of sandy cut-over lands as a bushy 


70 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


tree or shrub. The “scrub oak” of the openings, along the southern 
and western edge of the region is formed of a variable mixture of all 
species of oak of the territory. 

6. ASH. 

a. Black ash ( Fraxinus nigra ) and 

b. White ash ( Fraxinus americana), the former by far the more 
common, are found in every county, are generally restricted to the 
swamps and on the whole form a very small portion of these woods 
either in number of specimens or as saw timber. 

7. ASPEN. 

a. Aspen ( Populus tremuloides) , very commonly called poplar. 

b. Large-toothed aspen ( Popnlus grandidentata ) is very common in 
all parts of north Wisconsin; it is much more conspicuous on the 
cut-over lands as brushy cover, in the sandy pineries as scattered mix¬ 
ture, and also in the mixed forests of the Lake Superior region than 
in the better hardwood forest, where it forms but an insignificant 
proportion of the merchantable material. 

Of the less conspicuous or less important forest trees must be men¬ 
tioned: 

Butternut ( Juglans cinerea ) scattered throughout the better hard¬ 
wood forest. 

Blue beech ( Carpinus caroliniana ) and hop hornbeam ( Ostrya vir- 
giniana ), both of which occur quite abundantly in all hardwood for¬ 
ests without ever forming merchantable timber. 

Hickory, chiefly pignut, bitternut and mockernut ( Hicoria minima y 
glabra and alba ) occur in the southern districts and occasionally reach 
timber size. 

Black cherry ( Prunus serotina ) rarely occurs on the better lands and 
cannot be considered as an important tree. 


SCHEDULE OF INQUIRIES. 


71 


SCHEDULE OF INQUIRIES ON FOREST CONDITIONS 
OF WISCONSIN; LINCOLN COUNTY. 

[Filibert Roth, 1897.] 

[References: H. W. Wright, John Woodlock, Herm. Rush, William 
Bradley, J. J. Hoffman, C. D. Clark, L. N. Anson, N. Emerson, and 
George Langley.] 


I. OWNERSHIP. 

Acres. 

Total area. 576,000 

Total area (Forestry Division) . 576,000 

Land surface (Forestry Division) . 572,000 

Land surface (U. S. Land Office Rept.) . 581,000 

Land surface (chief geographer, U. S. Geol. Survey in Cen¬ 
sus Bui., 1890) . 448,000 

1. Actual settlers, farmers, etc. *49,000 

2. Private owners not occupying land. 447,000 

3. Of this is owned by lumbermen 60 per cent. 

4. Railway companies (Wisconsin Central Railway) . 41,800 

5. Township . . 

6. County . 4,000 

7. State . 19,440 

8. Of this in bodies over 160 acres 66 per cent. 

9. United States lands . 11,200 

II. GENERAL SURFACE CONDITIONS. Per Cent. 

Acres. of total. 

1. Cultivated land . *[9,000 

2. Forest and waste lands ,. 553,000 97 

3. Virgin forests . 345,000 60 

4. Virgin forests in tracts of over 160 acres. 345,000 60 

5. Cut-over lands . 158,000 28 

6. Swamp. 50,000 9 

7. Lakes . 10,000 2 

8. Land best to be left as forest. 145,000 


*The U. S. Census, 1890, gives 63,481; the above is figure of state cen¬ 
sus, 1895. 

•j-U. S. Census of 1890 gives this at 10,500; the above is State census. 
























72 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


III. CONFIGURATION AND WATER COURSES. 

1. Of total area, 20 per cent, long- slopes; 10 per cent, hilly land; 
55 per cent, rolling; 15 per cent, low flats. 

Note.—No hills over 300 feet high; most large hills have long slopes; 
considerable “pot hole” land exists both in loam and sand land area. 
The entire county is drained by the Wisconsin and its tributaries, 
the Prairie, Pine, Spirit, Somo, Tomahawk, New Wood, and Copper 
rivers, all of which furnish good driving facilities. 

IY. SOIL AND DRAINAGE. 

1. Strong clay, 20 per cent, of area; depth, great; color, gray; 
grain, fine, mixed with gravel and large stones. Loam, 60 per cent, 
of area; depth, great; color, gray; grain, fine, mixed with gravel and 
large stones. Loamy sand, 20 per cent, of area; depth, great; color, 
reddish gray; grain, medium, with little fine gravel. 

2. Good farm land, 30 per cent, of area; drainage, good. Medium 
farm land, 45 per cent, of area; drainage, good. Forest soils proper, 
25 per cent, of area; drainage good. 

Note. —Many of the marshes make fine farm land. 

1. Railways (names), Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; Chicago 
and Northwestern; “Soo;” Wisconsin and Chippewa. Miles, com¬ 
plete, 82. 


Y. FACILITIES FOR TRANSPORTATION. 

2. Roads in good and bad condition, about 300 miles; roads not yet 
opened, about 1,500 miles. 

3. Streams large enough to float timber, over 200 miles; useable, 
six months per year. 


YI. WOOD INDUSTRIES. 

1. Pine mills cut in 1897, 120,000,000 feet; saw little hemlock or 
hard woods. 

2. Tan bark, 30,000 cords hemlock. 

3. Other woodworking establishments: 

Merrill was the head of raft navigation, and lumbering began as 
early as the fifties. 

In 1895 the product of the wood industries of Lincoln were valued 
at $2,350,000. 

(To be amplified by census statistics.) 


SCHEDULE OF INQUIRIES. 73 

vii . market. (g=unlimited; l=limited; n=none at all.) 

White Pine stumpage, g; logs, g; lumber, g; firewood, 1-n; mill 
refuse is used. 

Norway stumpage, g; logs, g; lumber, g; firewood, 1-n; mill refuse 
is used. 

Hemlock stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, 1. 

White Cedar stumpage, 1; logs, g. 

Tamarack stumpage, n; logs, 1-n. 

Oak stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Elm stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Basswood stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Birch stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Ash stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Maple stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Poplar stumpage, 1; logs, 1; lumber, g; firewood, 1. 

Chiefly Birch and Maple is sold for fuel. 

Hemlock bark, good; Oak bark, none to be had. 

Note.—Stumpage of hemlock and hardwoods has no ready market; 
it is sold for the labor of clearing, etc.; hemlock stumpage is being 
sold for bark purposes to a limited degree. 

Two principal areas must be distinguished: 

(1) The level and rolling clay and loam lands occupying about 80 
per cent, of the county, and stocked with a mixed forest of hard 
woods, hemlock, and pine. The soil is generally a gray loam on a 
deep gray clay and loam; subsoil more or less mixed with gravel, and 
some stone of larger size. Ini places, as on nearing the rivers and 
also along the sandy area in the northern part, the soil becomes a 
sandy loam, usually with much gravel, and in other places, particu¬ 
larly the southwestern and western part, it is a heavy loam and clay. 
These differences in soil are reflected in the forest cover, almost pure 
hard woods occupying the heaviest clays and most fertile loams, a 
hemlock forest stocking the lighter gravelly loams and the pine pre¬ 
dominating on the sandy stretches. 

The pine is cut from nearly all parts of this area, but its removal 
has left the woods generally an undisturbed, dense, unculled, mixed 
forest of hard wood and hemlock, in which the former existence of 
pine is hardly noticed, since the humidity maintained, prevented 
both the starting and running of fires. 

Narrow belts of sandy gravel and sand, along the Wisconsin and 
some of its tributaries, formerly stocked with heavy pine forests, 
now all cut and the slashings burned and largely waste. On some of 
these old slashings pine groves of young white pine may be seen. 


74 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


2. A level sandy pinery area, occupying the northern part of the 
county east of R. 5 E., forming a broad Y-shaped body, rapidly widen¬ 
ing from its apex, below junction of Wisconsin and Tomahawk rivers, 
and extending into Oneida. 

The soil and subsoil here is a light loamy sand of great depth, me¬ 
dium grain, and generally a reddish gray color, more or less mixed, 
locally, with a fine gravel. This area was densely covered by a forest 
of white pine, with about 20 per cent. Norway, and, locally, some 
jack pine. This is now practically all cut, and repeated fire have 
cleared the greater part of all forest cover, leaving the ground cov¬ 
ered by brake, sweet fern, and bushy scrub oak and poplar, neither 
of which seems capable to form a tree under these conditions. A 
number of fire-damaged groves of sapling and small pine interrupt 
these tracts of barren lands. 

VIII. FOREST GROWTH. 

A. Timber lands, i. e., from w r hich little or no timber has been 
taken. 

(а) Originally: Mixed forest, 75 per cent, of area, in which Pine, 
40 per cent.; hard woods, 30 per cent.; Hemlock, 30 per cent. Pine 
woods, 14 per cent, of area; swamps, 9 per cent, of area; lakes and 
rivers, 2 per cent, of area. 

woods, 14 per cent, of area; swamps, 9 per cent, of area; lakes and 

(б) At present: 

1. Hardwoods: 

Of these, proportion in mixed forest— 

Oak, 3 per cent., nearly all Red Oak; Elm, 20 per cent., nearly half 
Rock Elm; Ash, 5 per cent., nearly all Black Ash; Maple, 15 percent.; 
Basswood, 25 per cent.; Birch, 30 per cent.; White Birch and Poplar,. 
2 per cent. 

Size and quality vary with the soil. Maple is very abundant, but 
much is defective. Hickory, Blue Beech, Hop Hornbeam, and Butter¬ 
nut occur. 

The standing pine suitable for ordinary logging is placed at about 
75,000,000 feet. To this must be added large quantities of scattered 
material which is being logged, chiefly by farmers, in a small way, 
and which will swell the total cut easily to 250,000,000 feet B. M. 

2. Mixed conifers, with or without hard woods, 345,000 acres; yield, 
6,000 feet per acre; Hemlock, 50 per cent.; quality, good; diameter,. 
18 inches; height, 85 feet; hard woods, 50 per cent.; quality, common; 
diameter, 18 inches; height, 70 feet; Hemlock is good, cuts 2 1 / & _ 3 logs 
per tree, 10 logs per 1,000 feet; hard woods, short-bodied, 2 logs per 
tree, 6-8 logs per 1,000 feet; White and Norway Pine mostly cut. 


SCHEDULE OF INQUIRIES. 


75 


Undergrowth and soil cover: Humus, not deep; moss, bare. The 
undergrowth is formed of young trees, Bush Maple, Hazel, Dogwood, 
also small Blue Beech, Hornbeam, and Balsam. 

3. Swamp forests, 30,000 acres; yield, 3 M. feet, or 6 cords; Tamar¬ 
ack, 50 per cent.; height, 80 feet; diameter, 12 inches; White Cedar, 
40 per cent.; height, 50 feet; diameter, 16 inches; Spruce, 10 per 
cent.; height, 50 feet; diameter, 12 inches. The swamps are gener¬ 
ally stocked, many have suffered from fire, and many have trees of 
“all one size,” and all too small to use, so that the yield, when large 
areas are considered, is not very great. 

B. Cut-over lands, i. e., where most or all valuable timber has been 
removed. 

1. Total, 158,000 acres. 

2. Tracts owned in quantities of over 160 acres. 

3. Land not burned over, but no merchantable timber left, 
100,000 acres. 

4. Land burned over recently and waste, 58,000 acres. 

5. Land stocked with young growth of Pine, 10,000 acres. 

Of this— 

White Pine, 80 per cent., with Poplar; Norway, 20 per cent., with 
Poplar; Birch and Poplar found on all slashings, but of no promise. 

White Pine is 1 to 20 feet high, grows thriftily. Norway Pine is 1 
to 20 feet high, grows thriftily. Some very promising little groves 
occur about Merrill. 

6. On these lands there is generally much fallen timber of all 
sizes; the humus is burned off. The soil is covered with d§bris, pop¬ 
lar brush, and on sandy land by sweet fern and cherry. The chance 
of seeding is poor, often wanting over large districts. Danger of 
fire very great during every dry season. Help to fight fires is inade¬ 
quate where most needed. 


76 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


Products of lumber and saw mills of Wisconsin. 

[From Federal Census of 1890.] 


842 Establishments Reported. 


t 


Class of Products. 


Aggregate value of all products ( a) 


Establish¬ 

ments 

reporting 

respective 

items. 


842 


Forest Products : 


Saw logs for domestic consumption (feet, scaled 
measure). 

Telegraph poles (number). 

Fence posts (number). 

Railway ties (number). 

Piling (pieces). 

Hewed timber (feet, board measure). 

Round timber, for export (feet, scaled measure).. 

All other products which have not become the 
material of the mill. 


137 

123 

155 

174 

70 

1 


2 


74 


Total.. 

Lumber-mill and Saw-mill Products : 


Sawed lumber (feet, board measure). 

Bobbin and spool stock (feet, board measure).... 

Furniture stock (feet, board measure). 

Carriage and wagon stock (feet, board measure).. 

Agricultural implement stock (feet, board meas¬ 
ure) . 

Pickets or palings (feet, board measure). 

Shingles (number). 

Staves (pieces). 

Headings (sets). 

All other products (including receipts from cus¬ 
tom sawing). 

Total. 


657 


152 

152 

127 

116 

371 

38 

41 

550 


Planing-mill Products and Remanufactures 


193 


Quantity. 


Value. 


$51,908,767 


289,226,998 
5,189 
509,453 
353,139 
13,938 
40,000 
390,000 


2,812,564,872 


11,039,772 

4,171,461 

855,632 

32,885,699 

1,366,022,000 

58,187,022 

7,818,755 


$2,153,154 
3,706 
29,454 
52,272 
20,128 
600 
2,691 

99,352 

$2,361,357 


$31,873,910 


129,976 

52,436 

10,936 
150,818 
2,186,643 
363,714 
312,135 

3,029,103 

$38,109,671 

$11,437,739 


• a The value of product is the net value at the mill, exclusive of expenses of sell- 
^g* The cost of this item is stated under the head of “Annual expense charges,” and 
should not be considered as a charge on the cost of manufacture. 

















































PRODUCTS. 


77 


Heading ; Custom Sawing, Detailed. 

Number of 
establish¬ 
ments. 

Receipts 
from custom 
work. 

Tnta 1. 

525 

$823,079 

Establishments engaged exclusively in custom sawing. 

Establishments engaged partially in custom sawing. 

Special Industeies and By-pboducts. 

Tntal . 

94 

431 

45 

$430,847 

392,232 

Value of 
product. 

2,206,024 

Handles, chair stock, and similar turned and shaped goods.. 

Tubs, pails, churns, packages, miscellaneous, wooden ware, 

findY6D68rs r.TT - t . 

13 

9 

3 

41,884 

999,738 

28,655 

TT rums . 

Pa ririP' hlnr.ts. 

Hubs, spokes, and similar wagon stock, in shape. 

11 

380,240 

Agricultural implement stock, in shape. 

1 

5,700 

Af lBf'pllan prm R. 

8 

74,244 



550,000 

Estimated value of other by-products. 


125,563 



































78 


FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 


Value of products of wood industries in the several counties of Wis¬ 
consin . 

[From the State Census of 1895.] 


Name of 
county. 

Lumber, 
shingles 
and lath 
manuf’d. 

Articles 
of wood 
manuf’d. 

Wagons, 

carriages 

and 

sleighs 

manuf’d. 

Name of county. 

Lumber, 
shingles 
and lath 
manuf’d. 

Articles 
of wood 
manuf’d. 

Wag¬ 

ons, 

car¬ 

riages, 

and 

sleighs 

man¬ 

uf’d. 

1,000 dollars. 

1,000 dollars. 

Total for 




Polk. 

115 

2 

1 

state.... 

34,437 

19,234 

5,300 

Portage. 

518 

105 

21 






4Q? 







Pierce. 

135 

32 

22 

Ashland.... 

1,389 


3 

Sawyer. 

304 



Rarron. 

'575 

50 

32 

Shawano. 

351 

5 

5 

Bayfield.... 

1,714 

8 

1 

St. Croix. 

702 

41 

1 

Burnett... . 

13 

8 


Taylor. 

656 

1 

6 

Chippewa.. 

317 

239 

5 

Vilas. 

2,035 



Clark. 

325 

371 

10 

Washburn. 

'358 



Douglas ... 

744 

1,179 

242 

Wood. 

941 

272 

7 


1 025 


4 





Florene.... 

10 



Total for tim- 




Forest. 

1,018 



bered counties 

24,568 

3,612 

386 


25 

21 



Jackson.... 

24 

6 

5 





Langdon... 

453 

112 

5 

Brown. 

1,227 

277 

24 

Lincoln.... 

2,353 

11 


Eau Claire. 

2,170 

230 

12 

Marathon.. 

2,000 

711 

13 

Juneau. 

137 

2 

7 

Marinette.. 

3,749 

136 

3 

LaCrosse. 

2,113 

54 

109 

Oconto. 

746 



Monroe . 

237 

2 

4 

Oneida. 

1,481 

302 


Outagamie. 

83 

260 

14 




Waupaca. 

998 

56 

9 





Winnebago. 

1,082 

3,920 

349 





Total for coun- 








ties directly 








dependent on 








the Wisconsin 








forests. 

8,047 

4,801 

528 





Other parts of the 








state. 

1,822 

10,821 

4,386 














































































The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey was established 
by act of the Legislature in 1897. Its publications are issued as bulletins, 
which are numbered consecutively, and each bulletin is independently 
paged and indexed, nd attempt being made to group them in volumes. 
The bulletins are issued in three series: 

A. Scientific Series .—The bulletins so designated consist of original 
contributions to the geology and natural history of the state, which are of 
scientific interest rather than of economic importance. 

B. Economic Series .—This series includes those bulletins whose in¬ 
terest i3 chiefly practical and economic. 

O. Educational Series .—The bulletins of this series are primarily de¬ 
signed for use in the schools, and discuss the subjects of which they treat 
from this point of view. 

The first bulletin to be issued belongs to the Economic Series, and is 
entitled: On the Forest Resources of Northern Wisconsin. F. Roth, 
Special Agent, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Pp. 78. 1 map. 

The second economic bulletin is ready for the press, entitled: The Build¬ 
ing Stones of Wisconsin. E. R. Buckley, Assistant Geologist on the Wis¬ 
consin Geological and Natural History Survey. 

In the Scientific Series one bulletin has been issued (No. II.): The 
Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps. G. W. Peckham and E. G. 
Peckham. Pp. 241. 14 plates, of which 2 are colored. 

A second bulletin of this series (No. Ill) is in press. 

A Contribution to the Geology of the Pre-Cambrian Igneous Rocks of 
the Fox River Valley, Wisconsin. Samuel Weidman, Assistant Geologist 
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. 

In the Educational Series three bulletins are in preparation: 

The Physiography of Southern Wisconsin. G. L. Collie, Professor of 
Geology, Beloit College. 

The Physical Geography and Geology of the Dells of the Wisconsin and 
Devil’s Lake. R. D. Salisbury, Professor of Geographic Geology, Univer¬ 
sity of Chicago. 

The Forest Trees of Wisconsin. L. S. Cheney, Assistant Professor of 
Pharmaceutical Botany, University of Wisconsin. 

All correspondence relating to the Survey should be addressed to 

E. A. Birge, j Director, 
Madison, Wis. 






LB JL '04 




























































































































































































































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